Red Eyes
by GrandMasterPreast
Summary: White skin, black hair, blood red eyes have managed to capture the hearts of Caesar and his apes. She will fight for them, protect them, die for them, and they will do the same for her. She survived the rise, assisted in the dawn, fought in the war, and has now become a simian soldier.
1. Chapter 1

It's been a long time since I've smiled. A long time since I've seen another human without a gun in between us pointed at my head. I've lost track of how many humans have attacked me. I'm human myself and they won't give me even a sliver of trust. I've been running for years now and it all started in southern Arizona where I was kicked out of my bunker by a small troop of soldiers. They shot me in the shoulder and sent me on my way. I easily recovered, though the bullet is still lodged in my shoulder blade and causes issues sometimes.

After leaving the bunker I headed west towards the coast. I've always wanted to see the ocean and I figured the Simian Flu is probably going to kill me, so might as well see the sights first. My second run in with other humans ever since the break out of the virus was at Arizona's border into California. A group of civilians had armed themselves with military grade weapons and they were searching every person who tried to pass into California, which wasn't many. If you had anything valuable, they took it, if you refused, then they took the most valuable thing you had, your life. I was either too stubborn or too stupid, hell, maybe even both, but I told them to fuck off and they took everything I had, beat me until they thought I was dead, then threw me in a ditch over the border into California. From that encounter I gained broken ribs that have yet to heal, gashes on my arms, chest, and face that left scars, and a broken knee cap and ankle.

It took a lot longer to heal from that mess, but when I did I headed north west to San Francisco. I tried to join the colony there, but the soldiers, or really civilians with guns, told me they didn't have any room so they tried to send me away. Again I refused saying they had a whole city to fill, one of them decked me in the jaw and shot me in the leg while I was down. They made me leave this time, and I did, sort of. I stayed in San Francisco, but on the opposite side of the city and closer to the river.

I finally got to see the ocean. I was in the city for a few years and stayed on my side for the first few years. After a while I snuck around and was able to make it to the San Francisco Zoo which is where I watched the ocean from. That backfired big time as the same humans who had refused me and shot me had found me there, and they were not happy I had stuck around. That was a year ago, and they are still trying to hunt me down and kill me.

"Hurry, I think I saw her go this way!" Shit, shit, shit! I'm almost there, if I can just get to the bridge and across it to the forest I can disappear into the trees. Before I can get to the bridge I had to get past the quarantine checkpoint and they knew I was coming so they were prepared. I growled as I peaked out from behind a rusted out car and glared at the men who stood between me and my freedom.

"You know what, y'all want to play this game, I'll play, but by my rules." I smirked and turned my head towards the trees to my left. Three years of sneaking around this city made it easy for me to get over to the trees and make my way up the base of the trunk until I was hidden among the leaves. I started jumping from branch to branch and tree to tree headed towards the checkpoint. Usually humans don't look up from their field of vision and they wouldn't expect me to take the high route anyway, so I got careless and didn't even bother to hide my movements.

"Look, up there!" Well, shit, time to run!

"Get her, shoot her down if you have to, she does not escape!" Well fuck you, too! It was getting a little hard to move between trees with people shooting at me now. Still I pushed on, determined to get to the woods, something was pulling me that way. I can't explain it but I feel that if I get to the woods I will be protected. Finally I passed the checkpoint by jumping from a tree on one side of the fence to a tree on the other side of the fence and continued on towards the bridge. New problem, now they were chasing me.

"Figures." I huffed then let out a yelp as a bullet whizzed past my head. I was coming up to the edge of the trees and the beginning of the bridge so I jumped from a lower branch and rolled to break my fall. When I looked behind me I saw they were still running towards me and shooting at me so without wasting more time I headed for the bridge. Now only a couple hundred feet before I can start climbing the wire suspensions, but the horrible people behind me had other plans. I screamed out as I tumbled to the ground, a bullet in the back of my right shoulder blade. The fall to the ground was painful, but the force from the impact of the bullet gave me enough momentum to do a roll and continue on my feet. The pain now turned to a dull ache as the adrenaline overthrew my senses.

"Faster, she's getting away! Don't let her get over the bridge!" Fuck, they are getting closer! This royally sucks but at least I'm almost there. I used a broken down car to jump off of and grab hold of the thick suspension wires of the bridge support and hoisted myself into a comfortable climbing position. Bullets were still flying by me and I'm sure I've been grazed a few times, and I think another one stuck in my leg. It's kind of hard to tell as I was focused on getting as high as possible. The higher I go the less likely I will be hit.

"She's headed for the woods! Follow her, catch her before she disappears, and bri…" I couldn't hear the rest as I was too high now.

"Gotta get to the woods, the trees will help keep me outta sight." The climb to the top of the first set of wires took longer then I thought it would, but when I got up there I looked down at my hands and noticed they were covered in blood and flakes of red paint.

"Wonderful, just lovely." I never used to have this weird sense of humor or be so sarcastic, so I guess it just developed over the years along with most of my survival skills.

"Time to head down now, hopefully it isn't too difficult." My wish was granted to me, thank god, because I was exhausted when I started down the wire suspensions. It was much easier to balance myself going down then to pull my body when going up and I reached the bottom much quicker but I slowed myself to observe. I didn't see any signs of movement. All of the vehicles in the area were broken down and done for, and there weren't very many places to hide.

"Maybe I should proceed on foot." The stinging in my hands confirmed this and I cautiously jumped down to the road. I turned to look towards the city, and then turned and looked towards the forest. No signs of anyone, good! With that I started jogging towards the forest. The quicker I get there, the less likely they are to find me and the quicker I can disappear. It was a long jog, but faster then climbing again, and it was only half of the bridge. By the time I reached the other side I was out of breath and had to stop. I looked towards the forest I was heading into and had to stop to take a deep breath. What ever was pulling me towards the woods was much stronger now. I could feel the tug on my heart like it wanted to jump out of my chest, take my hand, and lead me away.

"Okay, that is super weird, but I'll be safer there, so that is where we are going." I was about to start walking when I heard a noise that was getting louder and louder and sounded very much like a truck.

"Fuck!" They found me!

"There she is, get her!" How did they find me so easily?! Well, if you hadn't of been standing in the middle of the road like a sitting duck they might not have! Thank you, voice of reason, for your always kind and helpful words, smart ass…. Okay, now I really need to get into the trees. I had already started running, but noticed the trees closest to me were too small to climb and I was in the open right now, so I ducked behind the small trees and let my instincts guide me. I was already being shot at again and had to duck out of the way of a few bullets and wood splinters flying into my face.

"Come on, I need bigger trees!" I tried to go deeper into the trees in hopes of losing them and finding bigger more climbable trees, but they just kept following me through the roughage. Eventually I would find what I am looking for, and I would… wait, I think I see…

"Yes!" A larger tree with a boulder sitting at the base. This is exactly what I need. I grinned as I hopped onto the boulder and jumped to grab the nearest branch. My hands stung from the pressure on my cuts but I ignored it for favor of pulling my body up and onto the branch. Now in a tree I felt more comfortable and at an advantage. I started leaping from branch to branch, sometimes swinging from branches to propel myself farther. I kept looking forward and jumping forward until I could no longer hear the sound of the engine or the cursing of my pursuers. I slowed down and looked behind me and stopped completely when I realized I couldn't see the truck anymore and the ground below me was too covered in bushes and fallen branches for the truck to follow anyway. I grinned to myself and sat down on the branch, leaning my back against the truck and sighing.

I have no idea how long I sat like that, catching my breath and trying to relax my stiff muscles, but when I opened my eyes I about jumped from the tree with a scream. Standing on the branch in front of me was a rather large ape. He stood almost like a human and even had human like facial features. There was a white substance covering his face and chest that looked similar to paint, and a stripe of red went down his nose and the center of his chest.

"Holy shit…" The ape huffed at me and narrowed his eyes.

"Why. Are. You. Here?" What the fuck! Am I going crazy or did an ape just ask me a question?

"Holy shit you talked…" The ape huffed again as if annoyed that I haven't answered his question and it was that moment I realized that he was holding a sharp looking spear, and the trees around us were covered in more painted apes. Before the ape could say anything else or I could react to being surrounded, we both jumped at the sound of people headed this way.

"Come on, she's injured, she couldn't have gotten far!" The shout came from a good distance away but was still close enough to be heard clearly. I tried to stand up to get moving again but let out a low holler of pain before collapsing back again the tree. The ape in front of me looked between me and the sound of the approaching humans. He turned to the rest of the apes and gave them hand signals that looked a lot like sign language, and the other apes took off except one who seemed to be waiting for his leader.

"Wait, please! Can you help me? Hide me somewhere or something?" The ape was about to jump to another branch but stopped and turned to look at me.

"Please, they'll kill me if they find me!" The sound of the other humans getting closer made me nervous and had me looking from the ape to the noise and back to the ape. He seemed like he was going to refuse and just leave me there until I tried to stand up again but then passed out from blood loss. The last thing I saw was the ape lunging towards me before my vision went dark and my ears started ringing.

All of the apes were in a frenzy. Walking through the city was Caesar carrying a human female, and they were both covered in blood. A couple females that were taking care of Caesar's wife were in the village center and came rushing over when signaled by their leader.

 _She is badly injured, do best you can to help._ Caesar signed to the females after he put the girl down.

 _Inform me when she wakes, if she wakes._ The females all gave nods of acknowledgment and carried the girl away to treat her.

Now sitting around a fire pit, their fresh kill from their most recent hunt sizzling over the flames, apes surrounded Caesar, each trying to give their opinion on having a human in their home, but it was Koba who caused the subject to come to a close.

 _She is a human, humans are dangerous! Why bring her here, why save her?!_ Caesar had to hold back a sigh at the hate and anger behind Koba's hand movements.

 _Other humans were chasing her, she said they would kill her. She was scared and dying._ Koba turned his head away and grunted before looking back to his leader.

 _If she survives and recovers, she will try to kill us._

"My decision. Is final, Koba." Caesar's voice startled Koba slightly, he only used it every so often and usually only to get his point across. Koba huffed out a sigh and walked off to sit next to Gray and Stone. Movement to his left caught Caesars attention as Rocket started to sign to him.

 _What if Koba right? What if human attack, what will we do?_ It took Caesar a second to answer, but when he did he grabbed a small twig from the ground and snapped it in half, then snapped the halves into quarters.

 _Apes together strong. If we must, we will get rid of her. For now, we give her a chance to prove herself._ Rocket nodded and took his place back next to his son, Ash. For the rest of the night the apes let their leader be on the matter of the human. Instead they enjoyed each other's company and were entertained by Ash and Blue Eyes, the sons of two of the most powerful apes in the colony, getting into a wrestling match.

The next few days were a little nerve wracking for the apes. The human still hadn't woken up, but her condition would fluctuate. She would get better one day, worse the next, even worse to where she was barely breathing, then improve again the day after that. This went on for nine days. On the tenth day, the morning hunt was already over, and it was close to mid-day. A young female ape named Lake had been tasked with watching the human and to call for the other females if her condition changed, and boy did it change!

Everything hurt, why does everything hurt? I feel like I should be dead, am I dead? If I was, then I wouldn't be in so much pain. So, I guess this means I'm alive, okay, I was in a lot of trouble, being hunted by my own kind and headed for the forest. After that, what happened? Oh yeah, talking ape-man-thing, good looking talking-ape-man-thing, actually. Wow, I am more fucked up then I thought. Okay, so time to open my eyes and find out why I'm still alive. I did just that, and honestly, I was not expecting to see a roof over my head. Not the roof you'd expect, more so made of twigs, branches, and moss then roofing shingles or wooden beams, but it was still a roof.

"Where am I?" My voice sounded foreign to me, and my throat was dry. Water, I need water. A small hooting sound to my left caused me to turn my head. A female ape trotted over to me and then started hooting louder in the direction of the entrance. I looked around me a little and saw what looked like a water pail and tried to sit up but the ape put a hand on my shoulder and was shaking her head. I think she was trying to tell me not to move, and when pain shot through my right shoulder and side I growled and allowed the ape to help me back into a laying position.

"Okay, okay, yeah, that hurt. Let's not do that again." Just as I was getting comfortable again and the throbbing was going away, a few more apes entered the room. The one in the front turned and signed to another and that one left just as quick. The remaining apes came to my side, one put one hand on my forehead, and her other on my stomach.

"Did you treat me, heal me?" The ape looked down at me and waited a second before nodding her head. I smiled and brought my hand up to my chin and then down in the sign 'thank you'. The ape used her left hand to make a somewhat circle that signed 'you're welcome'.

"Do you have any water? My throat is very dry." To accompany my words I put my fingers under my chin and dragged them down my throat in the sign for 'thirsty'. One of the other apes brought the pail over to me and assisted me in taking a drink. In the middle of a gulp of water, the ape from before came back, this time with the first male ape I met in the woods. As soon as he entered all of the females looked over to him, and the one giving me water set the pail aside and moved out of the way to let her leader sit beside me.

"You saved my life, bringing me here, and them healing me. I owe you big time. I thought I was a goner this time for sure."

"This. Time?" I was about to reply when one of the females started signing to her leader.

 _She has many scars, most look fatal, all look to be from humans._ The male ape looked back over at me and the look on his face was that of a battle torn soldier.

"Do you. Have. A name?" The fact that this ape can speak, and they know sign language, this is incredible!

"Kenai, what about you?" The ape thought for a second, and there was a brief moment where I thought he wasn't going to give me his name, or maybe he didn't have one.

"Caesar." Well, that suited him very nicely, and his eyes are so green and pretty. Just as I was about to ask the ape how he was able to sign and speak, two more apes entered the room. One was rather young and handsome, the other a little older and was the one who had stayed behind waiting for Caesar in the woods.

"Why were you in our woods?" Caesar's words were choppy and slow but easily understood.

"I was running, and I felt I would be safer among the trees. There's a small colony of humans in the city, the men charged with protecting it want me dead, so I either left the city and came here or let them kill me. I am a pretty decent climber so I had the advantage, that is, until I sat down to rest." One of the males by the door hooted to grab Caesar's attention and then started signing to him when he had it. I could make out the words why, what, and betrayed, but that was it. Caesar signed back to the ape, a very brief reply, then turned back to me. By now the females were attending to my wounds again. One was checking my leg, another was checking my right side, and the third was trying to check the back of my shoulder. Not having very good access with me laying down, she gestured for me to sit up and helped me do so. I gave out a growl at the pain and my hand shot up to grab my right shoulder.

"Might I ask how long I was out? It hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, but not near as bad as it has in the past." My voice was low and my teeth were clenched from the pain which caused me to speak slowly and now I was breathing rather heavily.

"Nine days." Well, no wonder it doesn't hurt as bad, I slept through the worst part of my recovery, nice! Now that I was sitting up I could get a better look around me. I was in a single room building made of large and small branches, moss, and vines as well. The size was about medium and it fit seven apes and myself comfortably. The first female I saw when I woke up was the one tending to my wounds on my leg and I guess that means I was right in thinking I had also been shot in the leg… again. Now I had a bullet in each leg, and each shoulder, and since there was another ape tending to my right side means I was either grazed pretty good or had another bullet stuck in there, awesome.

"Why, Humans. Want you. Dead?" I was now studying the two apes by the entrance, so I moved my gaze from looking over Caesar's head, to looking into his eyes.

"I tried to join their colony a few years back, they wouldn't let me, said they didn't have any room. Which, I find to be bull shit cause they have a whole city. After that I just stayed in the city, but stayed away from the colony. One year ago they found me out by the ocean and I guess they didn't like the fact that I was still in the city, so they have been hunting and trying to kill me ever since." Caesar seemed to be processing all of this because he went silent for a few minutes. This allowed me to continue observing the area around me, that is, until the ape working on my leg accidentally used too much pressure over the wound making me give out a huff of pain and I sucked in my breath. The ape jumped back and started signing 'I'm sorry' over and over again. I put my hand up and signed back.

 _It's okay, I'm fine, it's okay._ She seemed to calm down and was more gentle when she started cleaning my wound again. They were using large leaves to cover my wounds and animal skins to clean them.

"You. Can. Sign?" I looked over at Caesar and nodded.

"At least a little. My brother was born deaf so I had to start learning, but when the virus broke out he was only three and it took him within a year. I only had a few classes so I only know basics and essentials." Caesar stood up then and turned to walk out the door.

"Get rest. Ape will be outside, call if you need something." Caesar started to head for the door, and the two apes there exited the building.

"Caesar?!" The ape stopped and turned his head to me.

"Thank you, for saving my life. I can't imagine what it must take for you to trust a human, much less save one. So I appreciate it." Without any acknowledgement or anything, Caesar turned forward and left the room. For the next ten minutes I let the females fuss over me. When they were satisfied with changing out the leaves and cleaning my wounds they helped me lay down and left. It was difficult to sleep, the pain wanted to lull me to sleep, but my mind was racing. So many things were running through my head, including the fact that I am among apes who seem smarter than most humans, those apes saved my life without even knowing me, and my own kind has never done that for me. I was so lost in thought I didn't realize that someone had come in and was now standing next to me. When he gave out a huff it startled me slightly, but I looked up at him and sighed when I recognized him as one of the apes from before. He was the young handsome one, and when he squatted down next to me I could see he had beautiful blue eyes.

"Hi, you startled me, I didn't see you come in." The ape said nothing, but set a wooden plate over my stomach and signed the word 'eat'.

"Thank you." The ape bowed his head then stood up and left quickly and silently. They don't like me being here, at all, but they've still treated me better then all of the humans I've encountered. The food given to me consisted of a couple pieces of fruit and a few cooked slabs of meat. I ate slowly, it was difficult to move my right arm because of my shoulder, and I had a hard time grabbing the food because of the cuts and bruises all over my hands, but eventually I finished the plate and set it next to me on the ground. The fruit was sweet and the meat was hot, it almost tasted like elk, which I haven't had in years. Now that I had a full belly and I had let my mind wear itself out, I was able to fall asleep rather quickly.

Now that the human was awake, the apes were asking questions again. What was she like? Did she seem dangerous? What are they gonna do now that she's awake? Why was she in the forest? Who attacked her? The apes were all hooting while signing these questions, and since Caesar was just sitting there observing, Blue Eyes and Rocket were trying to answer as many questions as possible.

 _She isn't like any human I've ever seen. Her skin is white, her hair is black, her eyes are red like blood._ Rocket had just answered a young ape who asked what she looked like as he wasn't around when she was brought into the colony. Blue Eyes hooted at one of the apes around his age as he signed an answer to his question.

 _She was attacked by other humans. She wanted to join their colony, they said no, and now trying to kill her. She's a climber, like us._ A growl from the other side of the fire pit caught everyone's attention. Koba sat there watching curiosity take over his fellow apes. He snorted and started signing aggressively.

 _She is not like us. She is not ape, she is human. Caesar, she is awake, send her away before she attacks._ Caesar narrowed his eyes and signed back to the ape.

S _he is too weak, she can barely move. The humans would find and kill her easy. I do not believe her to be a threat._ A couple apes around Caesar hooted until Koba spoke.

"All... humans... threat." Caesar gave out a huffed growl.

 _She has been abused by humans, her own kind, yet she does not seem to carry hate for them as you do. Give her a chance, if you judge her by her species that makes you no better than the humans._ Koba growled but went silent after that. Next to Caesar, Blue Eyes sat and started signing to his father.

 _What will we do when she is fully healed? Will she stay here or will we send her away?_ Caesar had to think about this for a second.

 _I will make that decision when that time comes._ Blue Eyes nodded and turned back to the other apes. He and Ash striked up a conversation about the human, talking about what she looked like, how she was grateful they saved her life, how she knows sign, and about the fact that humans had attacked her multiple times. Caesar decided to let the girl sleep and he would check on her in the morning before their first hunt.

A/N: I haven't written this much in a while, and I have a whole lot more coming as well, just have to get it put on my computer from my binder. This is the first story I have written for this universe and I am loving it. I know I do have many other stories that I have not finished, but it is difficult to find the motivation for them when my current obsession is Caesar and his apes. I would like to know what y'all think of this story. It is rated M for language for now, I do not know if I will do any lemon style scenes, but there will be a little bit of romance. I just don't know if I wanna go with rated M kind of romance yet, that will depend on y'all and if you want to see it, so I want your feedback in the comments!


	2. Chapter 2

Waking up the second time was better than before. I wasn't near as sore and I felt a little stronger. Ten days of rest and some food and water helped recovery and gave me a little strength. I still didn't want to wake up, but I had a feeling the apes would have more questions for me. I finally decided to open my eyes and about had a heart attack at seeing an ape standing over me. He had darker skin than Caesar and an ugly scar running over his left eye.

"Um, hi…." The ape growled at me and bared his teeth.

"Okay, not hi…." The ape continued to growl at me. He's not very friendly, is he?

"Koba!" Both our heads turned towards the entrance to see Caesar, a large orangutan, and the two other male apes from yesterday standing there. Caesar was staring at Koba, the look on his face was threatening and commanding at the same time. Koba huffed but walked around me and past the other apes to leave the room. After he left the group proceeded forward and gathered around my resting place. I don't know if I can call it a bed; it is made of animal skin, fur, and it was packed with what felt like moss and soft dirt. Now that I felt stronger, I tried to sit up on my own. I was having a little difficulty because I pushed myself up on my left arm, which stretched my right side, so that hurt, and putting pressure on my right arm is so not gonna happen. I was actually able to sit up on my own, which is pretty good for being shot three times only ten days ago. I looked over at Caesar who looked like he was studying me.

"So, he's a real charmer." Caesar looked toward the entrance where Koba had gone, then back at me.

"Koba does not trust humans." I sighed as a feeling of sadness washed over me.

"With those scars I don't blame him, humans can be pretty nasty. I hope y'all will give me the chance to prove that I'm not like most humans. You saved my life, I owe you, and y'all seem a hell of a lot smarter then most of the humans I've met which means you have my respect." Caesar nodded then pointed to the orangutang across from him.

"Maurice." I turned my head just as Maurice signed a greeting. After that, Caesar introduced the other apes, the one from the forest who had waited with Caesar was Rocket, and the young one who had brought me food yesterday was Caesar's son, Blue Eyes.

"Kenai. It's a pleasure to meet you all." After introductions Maurice started signing to me and all I got from it was a few words.

"I understood I, teach, and sign. Does that mean you will be teaching me sign language?" When Maurice nodded, I turned to Caesar in confusion.

"Might I ask why?"

"If ape help you heal, you must communicate with ape." I nodded and turned back to Maurice.

"Well then, I look forward to being your student." Just then, a female ape entered the room, after looking at me she signed to Caesar who signed back. The ape nodded and walked over to the water pail from yesterday before offering it to me.

"Yes, please. Thank you." I took the water from her and took a few gulps before putting the pail down and sighing.

"How are you feeling?" I looked over at Caesar, I can not get over the green in his eyes, it's so breathtaking and my absolute favorite color. Oh crap, I'm staring, answer the question!

"I feel better. Feel like I can move around much better. Not ready to start swinging through the trees again, but thanks to the rest, water, and the food Blue Eyes brought me, I feel I may be able to at least walk soon. That is, if you and your apes are okay with that?" Maurice looked over at Caesar and started signing to him, when he was finished, Caesar nodded and signed the word 'agreed' before he looked down at me.

"One more day of rest. Tomorrow, ape help you move around, get your strength back." I nodded in acknowledgement. I am totally cool with this, I wouldn't mind sleeping a little more. I haven't gotten to get this much sleep in years, even since way before the virus.

"Ape have morning hunt to do. After ape return, will bring you more food." I signed 'thank you' as they all stood up to leave. This time, Caesar replied by signing 'you're welcome' before he left with the other apes. I was starting to feel a lot more comfortable here, and it was only the second day I've been awake. The pull on my heart I was feeling that led me here in the first place was now a happy drumming. I felt like maybe this is where I should be, besides, these apes have treated me so much better than humans ever have, and Caesar, man is he easy on the eyes, so is his son, Blue Eyes. Even though they are incredibly intelligent and seem humanlike, is that still considered beastiality? You know what, for the sake of my own sanity and pride we will say no, it isn't. The fact that I find two apes attractive is a little weird and I'll have to get used to it if it continues. I imagine the apes don't want me here for very long though, so after I recover they will probably want me gone.

"Let's not dwell on that. I wonder how I look." I reached over for the pail of water and dragged it into my lap. My reflection was difficult to see with the low light, but I was still able to see some of the damages.

"Ugly, as usual. I need a bath." I reached my hand up and started picking at the dried mud and blood in my hair. It looks like they washed my skin though, I haven't seen my skin this clean in forever. With my face clean I could see multiple cuts across my cheeks and didn't even realize I had a split lip where the cut ran down my chin a little.

"Wow, how'd that happen?" Must of gotten hit in the face with a branch or something and hadn't even realized it. I studied myself for a few more minutes including my clothes. They were soaked in blood and shredded. They still covered what they needed to, but looked like they have had better days. The only things still intact were my boots and my leather satchel strapped to my leg.

"Gonna have to do something about this sooner or later."

Three months, it's been three months since I woke up in the ape's village. I'm able to walk on my own now, which is good because the female apes have their hands full with Caesar's wife getting closer to her due date for their second child. Most of the apes were weary of me for a while, and some still are. One ape who refused to leave me alone was Rocket's son, Ash, he insisted on following me everywhere, even to my sign language lessons with Maurice. These were going rather well, I was picking it up quickly. It was more of a refresher course and then filling in the blanks. I was able to complete full sentences and have full conversations, I was just having a hard time with names and letters, but it was a slow process and I'm getting there. Because of Ash's curiosity with me, he and I grew to be friends, and because he and Blue Eyes were friends, I spent quite a bit of time with Caesar's son as well. At first Blue Eyes wanted nothing to do with me, but I guess I grew on him cause me, him, and Ash are best friends and usually go everywhere together. Having grown so close to the two young apes in such a short time, and having developed a small crush on Caesar, which still weirds me out, the thought of having to leave made my heart clench and drop into my stomach.

"Caesar?" The leader of the apes turned to me as I sat next to him by the fire pit.

 _I am reaching full recovery._ I signed to him, and he nodded his head, then he gave a greeting out to Ash and Blue Eyes as they sat next to me before he replied to me.

 _That is good news._ I looked up at the ape with sad eyes then down at the fire. Without looking at him, I asked the question that has been on my mind.

"Are you going to make me leave now?" Ash and Blue Eyes hooted a little and waited for Caesar's response. I finally looked up at him and he was staring at me, man that gives me chills.

 _Do you want to leave?_ This surprised me a little, I was not expecting that question.

 _No… I am enjoying being here. I've actually made friends._ I looked over at Ash and Blue Eyes, Ash had his dopey ape grin on his face, which I loved, and I ruffled the fur on top of his head. He hooted at me and swung his arms a little before he and Blue Eyes scurried off.

 _I've never had friends. I have had my difficulties here, especially trying to get along with Koba, but the good outweighs the bad._ Caesar seemed to be thinking and looked over at Maurice and Rocket who both nodded after a brief pause.

"You… can… stay." For the first time in years, a smile found its way onto my face. It wasn't a grin of mischief, or a smirk of satisfaction, but a genuine happy smile. I had to control myself, I felt like jumping up and hooting or tackling Caesar in a hug, but I pushed those feelings aside and signed my thanks before walking off to find Ash and Blue Eyes again. I found them by one of the lower fire pits, they were munching on some elk meat and throwing fruit at each other. When they saw me coming Ash hooted at me and I grinned.

 _Caesar said I can stay._ Ash hooted again and Blue Eyes joined this time before Ash threw a piece of meat at me. I caught it with my right hand, which made me look down at my shoulder before I crushed the juicy flesh between my jaws and smirked. No pain in my shoulder when I caught that, this is a good sign. Tomorrow I can head out to the forest and test my climbing skills. The hut I had woken up in three months ago was used as the apes version of an infirmary, and that is still where I was staying, so that is where I went after dinner, and where I awoke the next morning. Caesar and his hunting party were just getting ready to leave when I walked up to the horse Caesar had just mounted.

 _Mind if I tag along? Want to test my climbing skills and need to learn to hunt as you do._ Caesar nodded after giving it a little thought and extended his hand. I looked at it questioningly until Caesar nodded his head toward the back of his horse and I took his hand and allowed him to help me onto the back of his horse behind him. I put my hands on his shoulders and grinned as the horse started trotting out of the village.

When we arrived at the hunting grounds, Caesar stopped his horse and allowed me to jump off before he dismounted himself. I patted the horse's neck as I passed by and followed a few apes through the roughage and up to a couple trees. I stopped at the base of a tree and looked over at Caesar when he walked up next to me. He looked at me, then up at the tree, and back at me again. I crouched down and put my head down to my chest and my hand out in a supplicating gesture. Caesar hesitated, surprised that I would ask his permission, but still slid his hand over mine. I grinned up at him, stood up, and leapt to grab the lowest branch. I huffed as I pulled myself up, my muscles still weak from not being used for three months. Once I was on the branch I looked down at Caesar and then up at the rest of the apes who had taken off up the trees. I let the smell of the forest and the sound of the raindrops hitting the leaves wash over me and let my instincts take over. I jumped to the next branch and continued to advance higher up the tree. Though it's been awhile since I've climbed without people shooting at me, I used my muscle memory to jump from branch to branch. I remembered at that moment that when I was a kid I had used to do this for fun and that is how I had gotten so good at it, so I let that childishness come back to me and giggled. Looking to my side I see Caesar swinging next to me and I gave him another grin and he gave a small smile back. I increased my speed but had to stop on a thick branch to listen with Caesar landing next to me with Blue Eyes on his right.

 _I heard something, that way._ I pointed ahead of us and to the left and Caesar nodded before turning to the tree directly behind us. He signed to the ape hanging from a branch there to check it out, and the ape headed in the direction I had pointed out. On the trees surrounding us all of the other apes had perched themselves on a branch or against a tree trunk, and after about ten minutes, the ape started swinging back towards us and landed on a branch a few meters away.

 _Caesar. They are close._ Caesar nodded his head and gestured to Koba and his party on the ground to flank our prey. Caesar waited until they were out of sight before signaling to the rest of the hunting party to advance forward. We all started to move until the herd came into view and Caesar, Blue Eyes, and myself were hovering over the herd of elk we were stalking and I saw Blue Eyes sign to his father to ask if now is the right time. Caesar stopped him mid-sentence and then looked at me and the apes around us. He threw his fist in the air and gave a loud shout to startle the herd. All of the apes gave chase as soon as the elk headed in the opposite direction only to run into Koba and his apes. I followed Caesar and Blue Eyes to the ground but there were apes and elk running everywhere so it was difficult to follow them. I almost lost them completely until I saw Caesar pull a bola out of an ape's hunting pack and use it to take down a large bull elk. The bull went down and tumbled down an embankment. I ran over to them then followed Caesar and his son as they made their way down the embankment. Caesar was up front, I was behind him, and Blue Eyes was behind me, and this entire time I had been watching Caesar like a hawk, studying and observing what he was doing, so when he noticed something on a tree close to us, so did I. Without looking behind him, Caesar signed to us.

 _Both of you, stay._ I did as I was told, and watched as Caesar inspected what looked like claw marks on the tree. A screech to our right caught our attention and we both looked over to see a large bear emerge from the bushes and swipe its paw at Blue Eyes. The young ape went flying and before I knew it Caesar has screeched and jumped on the bear's back. I quickly made my way around the bear to Blue Eye's side just the bear threw Caesar off its back.

"Blue Eyes!" I crouched down next to the injured ape and turned my head to observe the scene before us. Caesar was growling and roaring at the bear, hoping someone would hear him, as the bear was swiping at him. I looked up the hill when I saw movement and saw Koba running towards us. The bear then stood on its hind legs and roared but was cut off when Koba jumped and buried a spear in the back of its neck. The bear tumbled down on top of Caesar and they rolled a couple times.

"Caesar?!" There was movement under the bear and Caesar's head popped out from the fur. I exhaled slowly and huffed when Caesar and Koba shared a laugh and Caesar signed a thank you to Koba. I looked over at Blue Eyes and saw he had his head down. I had put my hand on his back sometime during the attack and it was still there so I started to rub circles on his back in a soothing gesture as Caesar walked over to us and crouched down to check Blue Eyes' wounds, but the young ape jumped back with a gasp and looked at his father.

 _Think before you act, son._ Caesar again tried to look at his son's wounds, but Blue Eyes brushed him off and took the spear in Caesar's hands before walking away. Caesar and I looked at each other and Caesar sighed before we both stood up to help with the kill.

The ride back to the village was long and awkward. I was on Caesar's horse behind him again and had noticed the looks exchanged between father and son. The younger ape felt bad, I know he did, and Caesar didn't seem to know how to handle it, he just seemed relieved his son was alive.

"Caesar?" The ape turned his head to listen to me, and I spoke softly so Blue Eyes wouldn't hear.

"He feels terrible, so try not to be too hard on him, he just wants to make you proud." Caesar said nothing, just turned forward and continued leading his horse. When we reached the village, Caesar again let me dismount first. After the horses were taken away, and Caesar was greeting some of the apes when hooting above us caught everyone's attention. One of the females taking care of Cornelia was hooting for Caesar and pointing frantically towards his tree hut. Caesar started making his way up to his home, and I looked over at Maurice. The orangutan smiled and signed the word 'baby'. I gasped and looked around the village center until my eyes caught Blue Eyes. He was next to Koba and didn't seem to notice the commotion. I ran over to him with a huge smile on my face and that in itself was enough to get his attention.

"Blue Eyes, your mother!" He looked from me, then up at the tree hut, and quickly scurried off and I followed him, curious about the new baby. When we got up to the tree hut, there were apes everywhere trying to get a peek at their leader's new baby. I made my way through right behind Blue Eyes and stopped when Caesar motioned his son over to meet his new brother. I peaked over the shoulder of one of the females and a smile formed on my face at the sight of a little baby ape curled up in Cornelia's arms. I giggled a little when the baby squeaked and that got Caesar's attention.

"Kenai." I looked over at the ape and he hooted a little then waved me over. I've always been shy when it comes to babies, and baby apes are no different, so I slowly made my way over to the family and kneeled next to Caesar. The baby chose that moment to open his eyes and stare at me causing me to gasp.

"Caesar, he has your eyes. Oh my god, he's beautiful." Next to me Caesar was smiling and put a hand on my shoulder before looking down at his new son. It took a while for me to finally leave Caesar's hut, the baby was just so cute and I couldn't get enough of him.

It was getting close to sundown and Caesar and Maurice were sitting under Caesar's tree hut looking out over the village.

 _Another son._ Caesar huffed out a chuckle and smiled.

 _Makes me think how far we've come, Maurice._

 _Seems long ago. Still think about them?_

 _Humans?_ Maurice nods in confirmation.

 _Sometimes, with Kenai here now, I think about them even more._

 _Before Kenai, never knew them like you did. Only saw their bad side._

 _Good, bad… doesn't matter now. Kenai is one of us, the rest of the humans have destroyed each other._

 _Apes fight too._

 _But we are family._ Caesar smiles a little and paused before continuing.

 _Wonder how many are left._

 _Ten winters now. Last two… no sign of them until Kenai showed up. They must be few._ For the next few hours, Caesar and Maurice just watched over the village. Apes were moving about getting ready to sleep, and Kenai had already gone to her hut.

The next morning, Ash and Blue Eyes had gone to the river to catch some fish. When they were on their way back to the village they encountered a human, not Kenai, a male who seemed surprised and scared to see them. When the human pulled a gun on them, Blue Eyes hissed and growled at him. Ash was next to him and hooted a little before taking a step forward, this caused the human to pull the trigger.

Back in the village a gunshot was heard, waking everyone, including Kenai.

"What the hell was that?" Now that I was wide awake, I stood up from my bed and exited the hut to find out what was going on. Apes were running by quickly headed for the village center. Something must have happened, I haven't seen them this riled up, ever. I followed the apes to the center plaza and out into the woods making quick work of getting into the trees to make travel easier for myself even though my still half asleep muscles protested. We were headed in the direction of the river, wait, weren't Ash and Blue Eyes headed there this morning? No, please no, not them. I growled at the realization I just had and increased my speed. It felt like forever before I reached my destination, and low and behold, a group of humans were surrounded by hooting apes and had their guns pointed at my new family. I looked over at where Caesar was looking from his place on top of a stump and saw Ash on the ground, a bullet wound on his arm and being cradled by a frantic Rocket.

 _They shot Ash! Shot my son!_ I growled and hopped through the trees and landed next to Ash and Rocket. Rocket was still hooting until Caesar signed to calm him down then huffed at the humans. I growled when I looked at the humans again and recognized one of them as one of the guys that was trying to kill me a few months ago. The guy looked over at me and a surprised look crossed his face before he brought his gun up and pointed it at me.

"You?! You're supposed to be dead!" I growled at him again and took a few steps forward until I was standing next to Blue Eyes.

"Well, tough shit princess, I had other plans which involve me living so I can kick your ass!" An angry hoot to my right had me looking over to Caesar who had a disapproving look on his face. This caused me to take a step back and crouch down but continued to watch the humans. The one in the blue jacket with a hat on looked from me up to the apes in the trees.

"We don't mean any harm!" The guy who still had his gun pointed at me whispered to the other.

"They're apes, man. Do you think they understand what you're saying?" I growled again which got the guy's attention.

"They aren't dumb animals. They are smarter than you'll ever be!" This time Caesar full on growled at me and I sunk away even more until I was next to Ash and Rocket again. There was a pause while Caesar studied the humans and the leader of the humans studied Caesar. The man in the blue started moving forward and the other humans were saying his name in question and alarm.

"It's okay. Put your guns down." What is this guy up to?

"You can't be serious?"

"Do it." All of the humans lowered their weapons, hesitantly, but they still obeyed. Hmm, surprising. The look on Caesar's face went from curiosity to serious.

"Go!" Caesar yelled out at the humans, startling them, and even startled me. It took them a second to comprehend the fact that an ape just spoke, but when Caesar jumped from his stump and landed in front of them, they snapped out of it and jumped back.

"Okay. Okay, we're… we're going." They started backing up slowly but when Koba joined in and shouted for them to go as well, they started clamoring to get away. The youngest slipped down the embankment a little and was helped up by his father who ignored his son when he said he dropped his bag. The humans were now running down the path away from us as all of the apes were screeching and hooting, and whatever was happening at the front of the pack I couldn't see now as there were too many apes blocking my view. I turned to Ash and Rocket and examined the wound on Ash's arm.

"You were only grazed, thank god." I was still wearing my tattered shirt, so I ripped a piece off the bottom and started tying it over the wound. When I cinched it tight Ash hissed at me and when Blue Eyes hooted behind me, I turned around. It was then I realized that Caesar had sent the rest of the apes away and he, Maurice, Luka, Blue Eyes, Rocket, Ash, and myself were the only ones left. When I looked up at Caesar he was glaring at me, this caused my heart to crumble in my chest and my throat to lock up. I wanted to say something, apologize, anything, but the disappointment in his eyes was too much and it completely shut me down.

 _Provoking them could have made the situation worse._ I bowed my head and tried to avoid eye contact. The only thing I could think of was to physically ask forgiveness, but when a hand landed on my shoulder that thought disappeared and I brought my gaze up to meet soft green eyes.

 _I understand that seeing them triggered your anger, and you have every right to be angry, but do not let it control you._ I nodded and put my hand over his on my shoulder, and we proceeded to help Ash up and back to the village.

In the village, all of the apes were gathered in the center plaza around the fire pits. They were discussing with each other while waiting for Koba to return, which I had found out he had been sent to follow the humans. I was currently sitting alone on a rock overlooking the forest. It was away from the plaza and all the noise so I was able to thing. What's gonna happen now? Is Caesar going to send me away because of another human attacked his nephew? Why did it hurt so bad when he gave me that look of disappointment? Now that they know I'm alive and here with the apes, are they gonna attack? Does he think me like the others after what I had said? Does Caesar hate me now? That last thought made my jaw clench and my eyes to water. I haven't cried since my little brother died nine years ago, and now it feels like it's all about to come flooding out, but when I heard footsteps behind me I tried to wipe my eyes of moisture and sniffled a little.

"Kenai?" I was expecting Blue Eyes or maybe even Ash, but when I heard Caesar's voice it startled me and I had to turn around to see if it was really him. I couldn't read the look on his face as he approached, but when he got closer his expression softened a little.

 _Are you gonna send me away now?_ I would have spoken the words, but I feared if I said them out loud then the floodgates would come crashing open and I would break down. Caesar sighed and sat down next to me on the rock.

 _No. You are one of us now, Kenai. Just because you let your emotions take hold doesn't mean I will make you leave._ I sighed and bowed my head, emotions washing over me which including relief.

"I'm scared." I didn't mean to say it out loud, it just came out, but when Caesar put a hand on my shoulder I couldn't help myself.

"What if they attack? They know I'm alive and up here, so they probably came looking for me, and now they know about you guys. I don't want to be the reason for a war to start…. I don't… I can't lose you… any of you…" Caesar sighed again.

 _I do not want war either. If they come for us, then we will be ready for them. Apes together strong._

 _How's Ash?_ Caesar looked ahead out over the hills and sighed, again.

 _Shaken up, but he will be fine. Blue Eyes is also upset, as are most of the apes._ I honestly didn't have anything else to say, so I pulled my knees to my chest and rested my chin on top of them. We sat in a comfortable silence for what felt like eternity and I didn't want it to end, but the universe had other plans.

"Caesar." We both turned our heads behind us to see Koba, Gray, and Stone walking in our direction. Time to get to business.

A/N: I was not expecting to get reviews within just a few days, so that made me super happy! I'm glad y'all like it so far, and I've already gotten a couple questions that have made me giggle because I already have an answer to them but they won't be answered until I upload those specific chapters and I don't wanna spoil it... so yes, there are quite a few plot holes... I did this on purpose! Please let me know what you think of this chapter in a review! I did a time skip past Kenai's recovery because I felt it would take up too much time and story. There will be a few times in the future where we will look back at those three months and also at her life before the apes! Thank you for reading and I will have chapter three up in a few days!


	3. Chapter 3

Now that Koba was back we all gathered on the flat boulder in the village center and he told us what they saw, and gave his opinion on what to do.

 _Must attack them now! Before they attack us!_ Maurice was the next ape to give his opinion.

 _We don't know how many there are. How many guns they have?_ Luka decided to give his two cents in as well.

 _Or why they came up here?_ Throughout this entire conversation, Caesar just sat there watching his apes while Maurice had been going through one of the human's bag that he had dropped, and one of the items was a sketch book. The orangutang showed a picture of a woman to Caesar who gave it one look then went back to thinking.

 _They shot your son, Rocket! Don't you want to fight?_ I sighed to myself, Koba had a point, but war is not the answer. We had to do something, and attacking the human colony would just make things worse.

 _I follow Caesar._ Koba looked from Rocket then back over to his leader.

"Koba's right!" It was weird to hear Blue Eyes speak, but he seemed to agree with Koba.

 _They almost killed you, Ash!_ Ash hooted quietly in response and the rest of the apes joined in and started getting louder until Caesar yelled,

"No!" Everyone instantly quieted down and watched Caesar.

 _If we go to war… We could lose all we've built…_ The next words Caesar said were both spoken and signed.

" _Home. Family. Future._ "

 _I will decide by morning._ Caesar stood up and walked through our group and towards his tree hut. The rest of us stayed put, except for Koba who followed Caesar after a couple minutes.

"Seems like we are gonna have a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so I'm gonna go ahead and go to bed. I'll see y'all in the morning." I got a couple hoots from the others before I headed off to bed. I had no idea what was going to happen now, but I knew one thing, I will fight for these apes if I need to, and I will fight for Caesar.

The next morning came with its challenges and its surprises and the first surprise came when Caesar entered my hut right after I had gotten up and was combing my fingers through my hair.

"Mornin'." Caesar nodded and set two bowls down on the ground next to my bed. I looked at them and saw one had white paint in it and the other had red paint, then I looked back up at Caesar in confusion.

 _You are coming with us to the city._ My eyes widened at this and my hands flew up to catch something Caesar had thrown at me. In my hands was a thick animal hide, and it looked like it was from the bear that attacked Blue Eyes. I moved the hide around in my hands until I could make out what it was. It looked like a shirt or something, and I looked back up at Caesar who waved his hand towards the garment.

 _You are one of us now, put it on, we will get you painted. We are leaving soon._ It was then that I noticed he already had his paint on. The same paint he wore when we met, and when we went hunting. I grinned and set the garment down on my bed before standing up. I was about to take my shredded shirt off when I realized Caesar was still in the room and was watching me. My cheeks heated up a little and I had to clear my throat before speaking.

"Can you… um… turn around or something?" Caesar gave me a look of confusion before complying with my request and turning around. I let out a breath and quickly ripped my old shirt from my body before taking the bear skin garment and pulling it over my head. I had to wiggle it over my breasts as I do have size D cups, but when I got it on it fit over my stomach and cupped my boobs perfectly. It only had one shoulder strap to it, but it held up very well. Thanks to the sun bleaching the apes did, the skin was very light in color and contrasted with my pale skin quite well. I giggled a little and this caused Caesar to turn around and a large smile erupted on my face when he gave his own chuckle.

 _Looks good on you. The shoulder idea came from my wife._

 _Remind me to thank her, and thank you, it fits perfectly and I love it._ Caesar nodded then motioned to my bed.

 _Sit, now we paint._ I sat down on my bed and Caesar crouched in front of me. The paint he put on me had a similar design to his own and it covered my face with lines over my lips and down my chin. When he was pulling his fingers down my lips I had to suppress a shiver. I had already closed my eyes because having Caesar right in front of me, I would have ended up staring and that would get awkward. The red paint was used to put a stripe down my forehead and down my nose and after he finished with my face he started on my torso. He did the same thing his paint had, the lines that looked like skeletal ribs and when he got close to my breasts I thought he would stop and allow me to do that area, but when his paint covered fingers slid over my boobs my eyes flew open and I squeaked making Caesar jump a little.

 _Did I hurt you?!_ I shook my head slowly and thanked God he had done my face first cause he would have seen the blush gracing my cheeks.

 _No, just, a human female's chest is… sensitive._ Sensitive was the only word I could think of without making the conversation awkward.

 _Do you trust me?_ I didn't even have to think to answer that question.

"With my life." Caesar nodded and continued, but I could still feel his fingers through the bear skin as he continued with his task. He had also put a red line down the middle of my chest and it stopped just before my cleavage, that one nearly had me passing out from controlling my embarrassment. Here was the ape I had a huge crush on touching my chest and I was trying to act like it wasn't bothering me, but believe me, it was… more than I'd like to admit. The last paint Caesar added to my body was on my arms and the back of my hands and I was all done. Caesar stood up with the bowls in hand and motioned for me to follow, but before we left he set the bowls next to the entrance and wiped the paint from his fingers on an animal fur.

In the village center, all of the apes were gathered and ready to go. I thought I would be on foot like most of the other apes, but when I was handed the reins to a large black horse I had to look over at Caesar with yet more confusion.

 _You ride on your own now._ I grinned and quickly mounted my new horse before taking said horse out of the village at a trot. There were apes on foot around us, in the trees, and behind me a distance was Caesar and the others on horseback. I was enjoying being on the back of a horse again, listening to the sounds of the forest, and riding bareback is always better because I am able to lay down on my back and look up at the trees. I let the horse lead itself and closed my eyes, a smile making its way to my face before the sound of galloping made me reopen my eyes. I jumped slightly when Blue Eyes and Ash galloped past me screeching and hooting at me.

"Oh no you don't!" I grinned and sat up before taking off after them, determined to reach the edge of the forest first. I squeezed my thighs together to hold onto the horse and used my heels to urge him faster, and I quickly caught up to my friends. Now running alongside Ash, I grinned at him and was able to pass him with ease. Now I came up next to Blue Eyes, I was still grinning when he looked over at me and hooted a little. I threw my fist in the air and hooted myself before taking the lead. We were coming up on the edge of the forest now, and when the trees started numbering in the few, I could now see the bridge, I slowed down to a stop and waited for the others. The smile on my face from just having a race with two of my boys disappeared when the sight of the city reminded me why we're out here in the first place. Ash and Blue Eyes came trotting up to my side and Blue Eyes hooted softly to get my attention.

 _You okay? You look sad._ I nodded at him then looked back at the city.

 _Remembering why we are going to the city to begin with._

 _Are you worried?_ I gave a slow nod in Ash's direction.

 _The last time I was in the city these humans tried to kill me, and they have been hunting me for a year now. What if they came up to the woods to find and kill me? I didn't recognize any of them except the one that shot you, Ash. He also shot me in the leg four years ago, when I first came here._ Blue Eyes put a hand on my shoulder and used his other to sign.

 _You have us now. If they came for you, then they get all of us. We will protect you. Why did they turn you away in the first place?_ I sighed at his question.

 _That I do not know. I have always been different, even when I was a kid I was treated differently, but there are things from my past that some humans do not agree with, and the only humans left alive I am pretty sure know about me and my choices by now, but that is a long story for another time._ I smiled and turned my head behind me at the sound of a horse neighing. Caesar and the others were trotting up to us and our leader had a small smile on his face. I grinned when he passed us but that faded when Koba stopped next to us and grunted.

 _You act like child._ I grinned at Koba which seemed to surprise him a little.

"There's no point in being grown-up if you can't be childish sometimes." Koba huffed at me and continued on. Looks were exchanged among me and my two best friends before we continued following the others into the city. Heading through the streets of San Fransisco felt weird because I was out in the open and usually I had to sneak around, so I felt very uneasy and kept looking around me, waiting for bullets to start flying. It took us a minute to get to where Koba had followed the humans to, and on the way there I noticed Caesar was studying the city roads, the paint on the walls, the broken down cars and shops, and even the quarantine zones we passed. When we finally reached the colony we lined our horses up on the opposite side of the street with Caesar in the middle, Maurice on his left, and Koba on his right. I was on Maurice's other side with Stone next to me, Ash, then Blue Eyes was on the end. On the other side of Koba was Rocket, Gray, then Luka. The colony already knew we were here if the sound of an alarm going off was any indication, and there was a lot of shouting on the other side of the gate and it took a bit before said gate opened to reveal a large group of humans clustered together to see what was going on. One human ventured out of the gate and down the steps slowly, and I recognized him as the leader of the small party that we had encountered in the woods, Malcolm I believe his name was. Behind him, I saw men with guns, one of which was the guy who shot me and Ash and I growled under my breath causing Maurice to look and grumble at me. Malcolm continued walking forward even when Caesar pushed his horse forward and they stopped about ten feet from each other and Caesar looked up at the humans before shouting.

"Apes," Startled gasps and murmuring started coming from the humans.

"do not… want war… but will… fight… if… we must!" Caesar huffs then looks down at Malcolm before looking over at his son who jumped off his horse and walked up to Malcolm with a glare on his face. Blue Eyes threw the bag they left behind onto the ground at his feet and turned to walk back over and remount his horse. When Malcolm picked the bag up and looked at Caesar, out leader pointed behind him towards our forest.

"Ape home!" Caesar then pointed in front of him where all of the humans were.

"Human… home!" Then he looked down at Malcolm again and lowered his voice a little.

"Do not come back." Without letting the humans react Caesar pulled his horse's head to the side to lead him away until a shout came at us, well, at me actually, from the human I hated the most.

"You're a traitor, Kenai! A traitor!" I clenched my teeth and growled a little at the man who had shot me and now had yelled at me, but when Caesar turned his horse back towards the humans and gave a loud roar my jaw went slack and my eyes widened. Malcolm threw his hand up at Caesar and his other towards the humans chanting 'no' as they had all brought their guns up. The apes around us started hooting, screeching, and roaring at the humans before Caesar put his hand up and they quieted down. Caesar then pointed behind him at me and shouted at the humans, again.

"Kenai is family! Kenai is ape! She… is… protected!" I straightened my posture on my horse and tried to harden the look on my face but it was difficult to do so when my eyes were stinging from forcing myself not to tear up. Caesar gave one last growl before he turned his horse away again. This time the humans remained silent and the rest of us followed. When I turned my horse away and couldn't see the colony anymore it was like a dam broke. Tears started flowing down my cheeks, but I remained with a straight back and hard features until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked over to see Caesar and Rocket walking next to me and they gave me small smiles before Caesar reached up and used the back of one finger to brush away a tear rolling down my cheek. I gave him a smile back and looked forward to guide my horse through the city streets and away from those terrible people.

When we got back to the village the apes went about cleaning themselves off and getting food prepared. Me, I just went straight to my hut after my horse was taken from me. I wasn't hungry, hell, I didn't even want to take the paint off, I just felt so emotionally drained, so I sat down on my bed and started staring off into space. I had a lot to think about as a lot had happened today. My moment with Caesar this morning was still fresh on my mind and still made me blush, my race with Ash and Blue Eyes was actually fun and I haven't had fun in a very long time. When Caesar stood up for me and defended me, calling me family and an ape like them. It was so overwhelming and don't even get me started on that roar he gave out, it was so deep, animalistic, and so very Caesar and it gave me chills. It was kinda hot and I couldn't stop thinking about it…

"Kenai." I jumped at the sound of my name, not realizing someone had entered my hut. I looked over at Caesar, and of course he would show up just as I start thinking about him. I blushed a little, grateful that I didn't take my paint off yet, and noticed Caesar was holding a plate of food. I looked at the steaming meat than up at Caesar, and finally down at the ground in front of me.

"Thank you, but I'm not hungry." I heard Caesar sigh and put the plate down, and for a second I thought he left, but when two furry ape feet landed in front of me I knew that wasn't the case. I clenched my jaw as the ape I had a still developing, and still weird crush on, crouched down in front of me. I didn't want to look at him, I didn't know what I would see and I didn't even know what I was feeling right now. I knew being called a traitor bothered me, but I didn't know why. That was the second time I had been called a traitor in reference to apes, and the other time… well, that was a long time ago so let's not dwell on that. A hand under my chin forced my head up and I instantly locked my gaze with Caesar's. There was sadness in his eyes and a frown on his face.

 _They are just words, do not let them get to you._ I frowned at this, did he just read my mind or does he know me that well?

 _Easier said than done._ Caesar huffed out a sigh.

"Did you mean it? What you said back at the city…?" Instead of an actual answer, Caesar put a hand on the back of my neck and pulled my head forward until our foreheads met. With how much distance was between us, this action forced me off my bed and onto my knees on the ground. I reached up and put my hand on the side of his head, sighed, and closed my eyes.

"You are ape now. You have proven… yourself… to be trustworthy… and loyal." I opened my eyes and stared into the green sparkling pools of Caesar's eyes and without thinking I moved forward and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. I buried my head into the crook of his neck and let the emotions flow through me. I wanted to scream, start sobbing, throw something, anything, but even with all of these pent up feelings finally being let out, they rolled off my shoulders and I felt calm in his arms. I didn't feel like I needed to blow up, the emotions, thoughts, and everything that had happened to me just seemed to wash away when he wrapped his arms around me. When I finally let go I smiled at him and received a smile back. Just at that moment, my stomach decided to growl quite loudly and I looked down at it, then over at the plate of food, and finally at Caesar.

"I guess I should eat before my stomach gets too mad at me." Caesar smirked a little and chuckled, the sound just melted my heart and made me giggle. Oh god, please don't let me be falling in love with him! It's been three months, how can a crush develop that much in such a short amount of time? My thoughts were interrupted when the ape I was currently having a dilemma over stood up and offered me a hand to help me up. I took his hand and after standing up I smiled up at him, again. You know, I never realized how big he really is, or am I just short? I don't know, but Caesar was about three inches taller than me and he most definitely had broader shoulders and a muscular chest and arms. He could probably crush a man's skull if he wanted to. That gave me chills, like, the good kind of chills. I don't know why, but I didn't get much time to think about it because a plate of food was just placed into my hands.

"Thank you." Caesar signed 'you're welcome', put his hand on the side of my head, smiled, and turned to leave the hut. I watched him leave and continued staring at the door even after he was gone.

"God, what is wrong with me?" My stomach growled again and I sighed before sitting down and eating my food. After the plate was empty, I set it aside and then looked over at the pail of water. I grabbed my old tattered shirt that was still on my bed, dunked it in the water, wrung it out, then washed the paint from my face, arms, and chest. I also tried to wash the paint from my new leather shirt Caesar had given me and surprisingly it came off rather well. I allowed myself to dry off before laying down and covering myself with an animal skin and let my mind wander. Hopefully those humans are smart enough to listen to Caesar and not come back, then again, when have humans ever made the right decision? The fact that the Simian Flu even exists just goes to show how clueless and incompetent us humans can be. This was the last conscious thought I had before I fell asleep.

"Where am I?" I could only see black, and my voice echoed out and back to me. Just then, an explosion went off in front of me, throwing me back and I landed hard on the ground. When I opened my eyes I saw a dark sky with lightning flashes and thunder cracking all around me. A scream ripped through the air causing me to cover my ears and cringe.

"What the hell?" I looked over to where I heard the scream and froze. On the ground in front of me were hundreds of dead bodies, humans and apes. They were covered in blood and some were completely ripped apart. I fell to my knees, tears cascading down my cheeks and my hands shaking as I reached out to the nearest ape body. I couldn't see the face, but the shape of the body looked familiar, and when I got closer a screaming sob escaped my lips when I saw the blue eyes and claw mark scars.

"Blue Eyes?!" I rolled the ape over into my arms and tried to shake him awake, but when I stared into his eyes, sobs wracked my body as the color faded away. I looked up around me and saw the bodies of Ash, Rocket, Maurice, and even Cornelia with her newborn son cradled in her arms, all of them were dead. I clenched my teeth together and put my head down till my forehead was against Blue Eyes' forehead.

"Kenai…" My head snapped up at the sound of my name being coughed out by a very familiar voice.

"Caesar!" The ape was on the ground about 100 feet away from me and he was reaching out to me, blood smeared his face and soaked the fur down his neck, chest, and arms. I tried to stand up but my legs wouldn't move and when I looked down Blue Eyes was gone. I looked back up and gasped at seeing a human standing behind Caesar. It was the man that shot me and Ash and he had his gun pointed at Caesar's head.

"No!" Again I tried to stand up to run over to him, I need to protect him, I need to save him, but still, I couldn't move. The human looked over at me, cocked his gun and grinned.

"Remember Kenai, this is your fault." I growled and struggled hard to get to him before he pulled the trigger. The look on Caesar's face was fear and desperation and just as the man pulled the trigger a scream ripped from my throat and my eyes flew open to see Caesar looking down at me. He had fear, confusion, and worry on his face, but the blood was gone. It was at that moment that I realized I was in my hut and Caesar, Blue Eyes, Maurice, Ash, and Rocket were gathered around my bed, they all looked frightened and worried.

"Caesar?" My throat hurt which indicated I had actually screamed, and my eyes and face were wet, I was crying again.

"You're okay… you're alive… you're all alive…" My voice was shaky and cracking and my hand came up to cover my mouth as I sat up quickly and buried my face in the chest closest to me, which just so happened to be Caesar's, and small sobs escaped my body as my free hand gripped the fur on his chest. Caesar looks over at the other apes in confusion than at the entrance of the hut where a group of apes was peeking through the door and hooting softly. Caesar signed to them to go back to their huts and they left as he wrapped his arms around me.

"You were dead, all of you… he shot you… I tried to save you… I couldn't… move… my fault… my…. I'm sorry…" My body was now shaking violently and I had to grit my teeth hard to try and stop the sobbing. Maurice signed to Caesar as he watched me break down.

 _She had a nightmare._ Blue Eyes grunted and joined in.

 _Back in the woods, she was worried the humans had come up to the forest to find and kill her. She is scared the humans will kill us and feels it will be her fault._ Caesar sighed and I heard Blue Eyes hoot and a hand landed on my shoulder making me look over at Blue Eyes who gave me a sad smile. I reached my arm over to him and put my hand on the back of his neck and he scooted closer so he could put his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath before I felt my body sink down into Caesar's arms. I could hear their breathing, feel their heart beats, and smell the earthy scents on their skin and this gave me reassurance that, yes, they were here, and they were safe. Caesar's arms tightened around me and Blue Eyes moved even closer so he could also wrap his arms around me.

"Safe." I felt a rumble go through Caesar's chest and it made me shiver as his deep voice was close to my ear.

"You are safe. We… are safe." I nodded my head a little and just laid there enjoying being sandwiched between my two favorite guys.

 _She's scared._ Ash signed to the other apes and Maurice gave out his rumbling coo.

 _Someone should stay with her._

"I'll stay." I lifted my head to look at Caesar, I didn't realize they were having a conversation because I had closed my eyes. What does he mean he'll stay? Is he saying he'll stay here, with me, while I try to go back to sleep? The other apres nodded their heads at their leader, Blue Eyes and I touched foreheads again, and the others extended their hands out to me. I slid my hand over each of theirs in a comforting gesture and smiled as they stood up and left. Blue Eyes turned to look at me one more time before he completely left my hut and I looked up at Caesar who was staring at me with a blank look. We sat like that just staring into each other's eyes for a few minutes before Caesar suddenly moved and signed to me startling me a little.

 _You need sleep. I will stay with you tonight and keep an eye on you._ I frowned at this.

 _You aren't gonna sleep yourself?_ Caesar shook his head and moved to sit on the ground next to me. I looked down at my lap and started to pick at my fingernails until I yawned. I huffed out a sigh before deciding to try and lay down. When I did I laid on my side to face Caesar and gave him a small smile before another yawn took over. I gave out a heavy sigh and closed my eyes to try to fall back asleep. It took quite a bit of time before that happened because I was scared those images would come back, and it had already started getting lighter outside by the time I slipped from consciousness and knew I'd be woken up soon by the sun's rays.

When one of his apes had woken him up in the middle of the night saying Kenai was in trouble, Caesar was not expecting to walk into her hut and see her body thrashing around wildly. Her skin was sheening with sweat, her jaw was clenched tight, and her arms and legs were kicking and swinging violently. They tried to wake her up as it appeared she was still sleeping, but she was moving around too much. Finally, she went slack and they were able to gather around her bed without getting hit. Maurice, Blue Eyes, Rocket, and Ash had joined him, and they all had looks of worry on their faces. The worst part about the events that had just taken place was the scream that had come from their human friend. It was so full of pain and sorrow, and Caesar couldn't stop thinking about it or how she had called out for his son and for him. Just by her reaction to their deaths in a dream, he could tell they were very important to her now, and she had also become such a big part of their lives that it was difficult to imagine the girl not being there.

Caesar watched over Kenai the rest of the night and when the sky started getting lighter she finally stopped tossing and turning and fell asleep. When the sun rose up in the sky, clouds rolled in and it started raining. Kenai had only been asleep for maybe an hour before she woke up again and Caesar watched her from where he was sitting next to her bed and observed how she moved when she sat up and stretched. The motion of her body was slow and she seemed to be drooping her shoulders, either from being tired or from the effect from the dream, but she was now sitting up and facing away from Caesar towards the door and she just sat there staring at her lap.

"You didn't need to stay here all night watching me." Kenai looked towards Caesar and he huffed at her before he stood up and offered to help the girl up.

"Food." Caesar pointed to the entrance of the hut and put a hand on Kenai's back to guide her out and towards the village center for breakfast, completely ignoring what she had said. God, he is so stubborn sometimes...

A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing! I have written the story all the way through Dawn and a little into War already I'm just getting it put on my computer now. I love reading reviews, it's what fuels me so keep it coming! I hope you liked the chapter and I'll be adding another one here soon!


	4. Chapter 4

It was now after breakfast and I had apes fussing over me wondering if I was okay and what not. I thought I would be getting awkward stares from everyone after what happened last night, but the only one giving me looks was Koba, and he always stared at me. Sometimes apes would come up to me and put a hand on my shoulder or touch foreheads with me, and to be honest it was pretty incredible.

Now I was sitting on a log on top of the rock in the middle of the village plaza and I was fiddling with a twig and observing the symbol on the rock in front of me when hooting and screeching came from the tunnel. I looked over towards the racket and growled at the sight of Malcolm being thrown into the mud. Luka and his guards hauled Malcolm up to his feet and pushed him forward. The human threw his hands in the air, started taking a couple steps forward, looked around at the apes then his eyes locked on mine. I huffed and glared at him until Caesar walked by and stood next to me and I just looked up and watched him to see what he would do. Luka pushed Malcolm into the mud on his knees and a couple apes hooted at him.

"No, please, please, please, please…" Malcolm slowly sat up and back on his heels before looking up at Caesar.

"Please don't kill me." I huffed out a half amused chuckle and continued to glare at the man.

"Just hear what I have to say." I narrowed my eyes at this and stood up. With where Caesar was standing and with where I had been sitting I only had to take one step and I was standing next to Caesar.

"I know. Don't come back. Don't… I know. I just…" Malcolm started to move a little to stand up and I growled at him.

"I wouldn't be here unless it…" Luka did not like the fact that Malcolm was trying to stand up and forced him back down in the mud. Apes started hooting and I even gave out a huffed groan.

"Okay, okay, okay…" The apes quieted down to hear what the human had to say, and honestly, I could care less. I almost turned and walked away had it not been for what the man said next.

"Okay, okay, okay. I need to show you something." Wait, what? Show him something, is this a trick…? To be honest, my curiosity was now peaked and I waited for what he said next.

"It's not far."

"Human lies!" Koba yelled which got all the apes riled up, and I was even skeptical of what he was saying.

"No! No! No, no, no, no, no, I swear. If I could just show you, then you'll understand. Please." I looked over at Caesar who continued to stare at Malcolm even when Koba raised a spear at him ready to impale his body. I was about to ask Caesar what he thought of this when he raised his hand and everyone instantly went silent.

"Show… me." Well, I guess that's that. After that, horses were brought forward for us and we mounted to follow Malcolm out of the village. It didn't take long for us to get there and when we did we had to dismount to follow the rest of the way. On the way here Malcolm had said something about a dam, but all I saw was water and a shit ton of logs, and… is that a house? Off in the trees to the side, I saw some power lines and what looked like a mini electrical plant, and when we climbed over the house and the rest of the logs we could see water cascading down a concrete waterfall. Well, I'll be damned, there really is a dam up here. I almost giggled at my mini pun but stopped myself when I remembered the seriousness of the situation. Following Caesar and Malcolm, we jumped down from the logs onto a platform and walked through a door, down some steps, and into a room filled with machines and reeking of mold.

"This is what we used to call the 'small hydro'. It was built to service areas to the north of here, but we've been working to reroute the power lines to the city because the city used to run off nuclear power, but that ran out years ago, so we've been using diesel generators and gasifiers. But if we can just get this… this dam working, then we have a shot at restoring limited power." Malcolm paused and watched me and the apes. I was not expecting that, so I had so many questions. Malcolm came down from the raised area he had been standing on and stood in front of Caesar.

"Is any of this making any sense to you?" I growled, what, did he think Caesar was stupid?

"The… Lights." This made Malcolm smile.

"Yes. The lights. This is your home, and I don't want to take it from you, I promise, but… if you can allow us… let us do our work here…" Koba then stepped forward.

"You… brought… others?" I growled along with the hooting of a couple others and glared at Malcolm.

"Just a few. I'm not a threat. If I am, then I guess you can kill me." Caesar stared at Malcolm for a second so I took this opportunity to ask my questions.

"I have a couple questions for you. Why do you need the power on?" Malcolm looked over at me as I took a few steps forward and was now standing between Caesar and Koba.

"So we can turn on the lights and keep ourselves warm." I felt my sarcastic side flare up a little and took another step forward.

"You know there was this invention a few thousand years ago called fire, it provides both of those things, maybe you should give it a try." I may be being a sarcastic smart ass, but the glare on my face and the intent behind my words was dead serious. Malcolm shifted his weight around on his feet a little as a couple apes hooted in amusement.

"It's not just about the lights. We need power to get the radios working. That way we can find out if there are any other humans alive out there." I huffed and growled at the same time, which I seem to be doing a lot of lately, and put my hand up and over my eyes before pinching the bridge of my nose.

"You know, you can do the same thing by packing up and going to find them. That's how I found you guys, and who knows what you'll find out there. You found us, and instead of using your brains that you're so damn proud of, you chose not to listen and you came back up here anyway, instead of finding a different solution!" My voice had gotten a little louder with each word and when I had taken another step forward Caesar put his arm up in front of me, making me stop and look over at him. He was looking at me out of the corner of his eye and when he finally put his arm down I sighed and backed away a couple steps before crossing my arms. I saw Koba look at me from the corner of my eye but ignored him as I continued to glare at Malcolm.

"No. Guns." I huffed and looked over at Caesar in surprise, and without hesitation Malcolm agreed. We all left the dam and followed Malcolm to where he left his comrades, and on the way to the human's trucks, Caesar had rode next to me.

 _You're upset?_ I sighed and shook my head.

 _Not at you. Humans have a bad habit of not listening and making the wrong choice. After everything that has happened you still agreed to help. You have such a kind heart, Caesar. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us in the…_ I didn't know how to sign the word 'ass' so I just pointed to mine and this got a smile from him which in turn made me smile.

 _Me too._ Caesar then trotted ahead past the other riders since we were getting close, and when we did arrive I stayed back a ways up the hill when I saw who was in the driver's seat of the first truck. I growled and stopped my horse to wait, but was not expecting Koba to stop next to me and give out a growl which got my attention.

 _You do not trust these humans?_ I looked back over at the trucks where Malcolm was talking to the others and had to think about that for a second.

 _I do not know them. The one who shot me and Ash I do not like. He seems like trouble, and shoots first asks questions later and that can be dangerous. The others never wronged me, so I have to give them a chance._ Koba growled and huffed at the same time.

 _You do not agree with Caesar's decision to let them stay?_ I shook my head at this.

 _Caesar is gonna do what he thinks is best, there's not much I can do about it. He is our leader and I believe he has our best interest at heart, but humans make mistakes. I just hope it won't cost us._ Koba huffed again and just sat there next to me watching the humans moving around their vehicles and throwing all of their weapons into a pile for the apes to grab.

The day was far from over as we led the humans to a spot they could camp at that would be easy for us to get to and from in a hurry, but difficult for them if they needed to escape quickly. I thought that was rather clever of Caesar, he may be kind hearted, but he isn't stupid, I learned that quickly. We stayed until the humans at least had their tents set up and headed back to the village. All of the guns were thrown in a pile by a fire pit to be dealt with, and we prepared for our evening meal, which went by rather quickly, and we were now accompanied with full bellies and a few apes left the village center after they were finished eating. So now the number of apes around was sparse, but we all watched as Rocket went through each gun, unloading the magazines, and then smashing the barrels and firing pins so they no longer worked. Each time he would finish one he would throw it aside and Ash would hand him another one. During the process the apes and I were quiet, so it wasn't difficult to hear when Koba huffed and stood up. I looked over from my spot on Maurice's left side to see Koba standing in front of Caesar.

 _If they get power, they'll be more dangerous! Why help them?_ Caesar was calm when he replied.

 _They seem desperate… If we make them go, they'll attack._

"Let… them." Koba, that is not very smart.

 _We'll destroy them while they're weak._ The look Caesar gave Koba confirmed that, nope, not smart at all.

 _And how many apes will die?_ Koba didn't seem to have an answer to that.

 _We have one chance for peace… Let them do their human work. Then they'll go._ Please let that be the end of that. Koba scratched the side of his head while looking down.

"Human... work?" Of course he wouldn't let it go… Koba pointed to the scar on his neck.

"Human work." Then he pointed to the scar on his right arm.

"Human work." Next Koba dragged his thumb down the scar on his face and raised his voice.

"Human work!" Caesar slowly started to rise to his feet with a hard look on his face and I prepared myself for whatever was gonna happen next. Koba gasped lightly a couple times when Caesar reached his full height and sunk down to the ground before looking down and putting his hand out. A couple apes, including myself, looked from Koba then up at Caesar. Our leader glanced around at us and without even looking he reached down to grant Koba forgiveness. Koba rose, gave Caesar a look, then turned and started walking away. I let out a sigh thinking it was over with until Koba passed me and growled at me. Instinctively I hissed back at him which, in his mind, seemed to give him permission to spin towards me and shove me, hard. I fell back off the log I was sitting on and landed on my ass with a shout. I looked up to see Koba baring his teeth and growling at me, but then Maurice got in between us which made Koba growl at him instead. Suddenly, I felt anger take control of my body as I jumped to my feet.

"No!" I stepped up on the log and put a hand on Maurice's shoulder before jumping down next to him. My teacher gave me a look but backed away a step or two and I turned to glare at Koba before I stepped closer and got in his face, which was easy cause we were about the same height.

"Damn it, Koba, I am so done with you and your fucking attitude! I am a living breathing creature who lives on this planet same as you, so you will show me respect and in return, I will give respect back! I will treat you exactly the same way I treated each human who has ever pushed me around." Koba growled at me and went to swing his arm at my head but I reached up and snatched his wrist mid-swing surprising both him and myself.

"Koba, I have no problem planting you on your ass if it means you learn a lesson! Now. Back. Off!" I stared into Koba's eyes for a few seconds and finally let go of his wrist, hoping he would back down, but he just roared and tackled me. We rolled over the log behind me and landed with Koba standing on my chest. Ignoring the hooting and screeching of the other apes, I growled up at him as he brought his powerful arms above his head, ready to bring his strength down on me. I curled my lower half so I could bring my legs up and wrap them around his torso, then I pulled him down and off of me. He gave out a screech as he went down to the ground and I took this opportunity to scramble to my feet, turn away from Koba towards the rock wall behind the fire pit and lung to grab the vines and tree roots growing there. I heard another roar and, still hanging there, I twisted my body and kicked my legs out into Koba's chest. He took a few stumbling steps back, clutching his chest and gasping. I pulled myself up to the ledge above me and turned to glare down at the ape that had attacked me. I gave out a growl and jumped from the ledge and towards Koba, who looked up at me as I came crashing down on him. I landed hard, taking Koba to the ground, and my legs shouted at me in pain but I ignored it as I reached down, curled my hand around Koba's neck, pulled him up off the ground, then gave out a loud, animalistic roar in his face that nearly frightened me with how deep and guttural it was. I never thought I could sound like that... I dropped Koba to the ground and took a few steps back to see what he would do. The ape slowly rolled over and stood up, facing away from me, then he turned his head to growl at me over his shoulder, which I snarled at, and he then trotted off and God only knows where he went. I continued to glare in the direction he had gone, shaking, and adrenaline pumping through my veins when all of a sudden apes all around me started to hoot and screech loudly in excitement as if cheering me on. This confused me and the glare quickly melted away and was replaced with confusion and wonder as I looked around at the apes. They had smiles on their faces, and they were hooting and jumping up and down, and when I looked over at Caesar he had his arm up in front of Blue Eyes, who must have tried to come to my aid but was stopped by his father. Caesar stepped down from his rock and walked over to me, Blue Eyes right behind him.

 _You okay?_ I huffed and wanted to tell him my legs were screaming at me from that jump, but I just nodded. I landed incorrectly and my knees took the force of the impact, which was lovely because my bad knee was now creaking, popping, and if felt like it would give out any second.

 _That was impressive. No one has stood up to Koba like that except me._

 _You're our leader, you shouldn't have to stand up to him, and if he wasn't so stubborn then this could have been avoided._ I looked away from Caesar towards the fire pit and apes were still hooting and screeching at me until Caesar put his hand up.

 _You would make a good leader, Kenai, demanding respect like that and backing it up isn't easy._ I looked down at the ground this time and sighed. Please don't say that to me... you have no idea how badly I want to be by our current leader's side... don't say that to me...

 _I'm going for a walk, need to clear my head and cool off._ I didn't even let Caesar respond, I just headed for the tunnel out of the village, trying to hide the limp in my step that would no doubt get worse the longer I walked. I thought about just finding a tree to sleep in tonight, but I could feel the heat coming off my body from my anger, so I decided to head for the shallow pools to the north of the village and literally cool off. These pools were secluded and in a valley surrounded by trees. It was easy to get to if you know where to go, and since this is where the female apes had brought me to clean up my first week here, I loved it so much that I just kept coming back. The water was clear and blue, the rocks forming them were smooth, and they were only three feet deep. About halfway there the pain in my knee had gotten to the point I was practically hopping on my other leg. Everytime I tried to put pressure on it, it would crumble and I would fall to the ground, so when the pools came into view I sighed in relief and nearly jumped in before remembering I had clothes on. I took my bear skin top off first, and my boots, then tried to remove my khakis without them ripping more. The air felt cool on my bare skin and I took a deep breath of it before diving into the cold water. It was dark out so the water looked black, but the moon shined bright and reflected in the rippling water. I was still at the bottom of the pool, just enjoying being surrounded by water, but when my lungs started to protest I surfaced and took another gulp of fresh air. I could feel my anger start to drip away with the water droplets, and I sighed in content before bending backwards and laying my head in the water and scrubbing at my scalp with my fingers. I don't know why but this is always so relaxing for me, scrubbing my scalp, my face, arms, chest, and being clean is such a wonderful thing. Getting to be alone is also a plus. I heard a twig snap in the trees behind me and I spun around and readied myself for an attack, so much for being alone. I thought maybe Koba followed me or the humans found me, but when Caesar emerged from the shadows and into the moonlight I sighed and lowered my fists.

"Caesar, you startled me, I thought you were Koba." Caesar stopped walking, looked down at my clothes on the ground, then up at me and I realized I was completely naked and the water only covered my nether regions. I let out a squeak, quickly covered my chest and lowered my body into the water until it touched my chin. Now blushing like mad, I refused to look up at my crush as a pout formed on my lips. A soft chuckle made its way to my ears which made me look up at Caesar, pout still on my face.

"What are you laughing at?" The smile on his face remained as he continued walking, gathered up my clothes and put them closer to the water's edge before he crouched down next to them.

 _You sure you're okay, you were limping when you left._ Well, damn him and his observations. I sighed and reached my hands up to wring the water out of my hair, being super careful to keep my boobs hidden under the water.

"I said I'm fine, I don't need you worrying about me, you already have too much to deal with. Now turn around." The smile fell from Caesar's face but he still stood up and turned around.

"Why are you… so embarrassed… to be seen?" Wow, wait… what? Did he just ask… oh, no, I do not want to answer that… this guy is too smart, he might figure out I like him… come on… think, what do I say?

"Because, only the one I am intimate with can see me naked, even though that's never gonna happen now." That wasn't really what I wanted to say… I hopped up onto the shore and tried wiping as much of the water from my arms and chest as I could before wiggling my way into my top, and I didn't even bother with my legs, I just threw my khakis on over the water and let it dry itself.

"Do you not have a mate?" Words seem to be coming easier to Caesar the more he talked, but these ones surprised me. I was sitting at the edge of the water now, combing my fingers through my hair.

"No I don't, I never have, and with the human race being practically endangered and trying to kill me and trying to kill you, I never will."

"What about ape?" I gasped and looked over at Caesar who had turned his body and was now staring at me. Did he really just suggest… no…

"I… uh…" I stumbled and fought over my words, I wanted to tell him my feelings so bad, but I didn't want to loose him, but I can't lie to him, I just can't.

"I'll a-admit… I've thought about it… there are a c-couple apes in the village who I think are very good looking." Okay, this seemed to satisfy my brain, I told him the truth without revealing my secret… I hope.

"You deserve to be happy, Kenai." I smiled and stood up to face my leader.

"Caesar, believe me when I say, I am happy." He smiled and reached a hand out to me, which I took, and he started to lead me away and back to the village, but I took a few steps and my knee decided to give out on my again and I went crashing into Caesar's side and he threw his arms around me to keep me from falling to the ground.

"You don't look fine." I growled and straightened my posture the best I could.

"I am, I just landed funny when I took Koba down, that's all." Caesar heaved out a sigh at me and then put an arm across the back of my shoulders and his other under my knees. I gave out a squeak for the second time that night when Caesar lifted me up bridal style and started heading towards the village.

"Hey, I can walk you know!" Caesar huffed but ignored me for the most part which made me pout, again. The walk back to the village was short, but I had gotten so comfortable in his arms that I started falling asleep on his chest. I don't remember getting back to my hut so I must have fallen out of consciousness before we got there because the next thing I know it's morning and I was waking up to the sight of my hut they let me stay in. I sighed when I remembered the events from yesterday, the good and the bad, and a smile formed on my face at the good. Hopefully more good happens today, only one way to find out though. I let out a grunt as I sat up, my muscles were sore and stiff from my tussle with Koba last night but my knee felt a little better. This morning I felt super groggy, and that usually only happens when I get a good night's sleep. I groaned again as I threw my animal skin blanket off and slowly stood up from my warm comfortable bed. I didn't even bother to fix my hair when I left my hut to head for the village center. On my way there, my body was dragging a little, my shoulders sagged, my arms swung loose by my sides, and my eyes were half closed, but still every ape I passed either put their hand on my shoulder or patted me on the back with their goofy grins on their faces. I tried to give them smiles back, but they kinda just turned to groans. The village center was bustling with apes getting ready to leave, horses were being pulled into the plaza, and a few apes were still finishing breakfast, including Caesar, Maurice, Rocket, Ash, and Blue Eyes who was holding his baby brother and cooing at him. I made my way over the rocks and through the fire pits until I reached my friends. Everyone turned to look at me and Ash hooted a laugh at me. I half groaned, half growled at him when I sat next to him and let my head fall on his shoulder, and my eyes fell closed.

"You look terrible." I groaned again and opened my eyes to look at Caesar from across the fire pit.

"I'm just not awake yet, and my muscles are sore, that's all." I was about to close my eyes again when Ash put a piece of cooked meat in front of my face. I hummed at him and took the food before popping it in my mouth, chewing, and swallowing. There was a pail of water sitting next to the fire and I saw Ash reach for it, thinking he just wanted a drink… nope… he took the water pail and tipped it over my head. I gasped loudly and he hooted and jumped away. A few apes around me also hooted in amusement as I sat there soaked, my eyes closed, and water dripping off my nose. I shook my head a little before I opened my eyes and glared at Ash who stood next to Blue Eyes with his funny grin on his face.

 _Awake now?_ I growled at him and he took off towards the horses, hooting and screeching in amusement. I looked over at the other apes with a pout on my face and huffed at the smiles on their faces. I stood up and tried to shake off as much of the water as I could, again, and stalked off towards the horses. I was determined to make him pay, so I was focused on my task at hand and completely missed the grin on Caesar's face. I found Ash sitting on his horse waiting for the rest of us and growled again.

"ASH!" The ape turned his head, grinned at me, then hooped and took off out of the village at a gallop. I ran forward, jumped from a rock, and landed on my horse and took off after him. I didn't need to look behind me to know the other apes were following us as I chased Ash all over the forest until we came up on the human's campsite. I was still soaked and pouting when we entered the campsite and this caught the youngest human's attention, Alexander was his name.

"You're soaking wet…" I growled, not at the kid, but at the reminder that I still haven't gotten Ash back yet.

"Don't remind me." I glared at Ash from the other side of the humans' tents and he just laughed at me.

"I will get you back, Ash, you little turd!" I heard a chuckle from one of the humans on the ground next to me but ignored it as I continued giving my best friend a playful glare. The humans were still going about getting ready when I started getting a little impatient, so I just headed for the dam without waiting for anyone. When I arrived, I stopped my horse at the shore line, his hooves immersed in the water, and just looked out over the surface until I saw the others show up and Caesar gave me a confused but relieved look as they were trotting towards me.

 _We didn't know where you had gone._

 _Didn't want to wait for the humans, was getting impatient, just want this over with._ Caesar nodded and he, Rocket, Maurice, and Blue Eyes trotted up next to me.

 _I understand, next time just let me know where you go, I was worried._ This was a little surprising and I was taken aback by it. Caesar was worried about me...? I honestly didn't know what to say, I didn't even nod my head or anything, and Caesar just looked forward and we watched the humans set up their equipment and open up their tool cases before they headed into the dam to get started. Caesar was on the other side of Blue Eyes who was on my right, and he looked around him before signing and speaking to Maurice.

"Koba where?" _Where's Koba?_

 _Still angry. Said he was going hunting…_ Deep confusion was on Caesar's face when he looked over at me and I frowned.

 _I'm sorry._ He shook his head.

 _It's not your fault. As you said last night, he is just stubborn._ I sighed and looked behind me, then back at Caesar.

 _Where do you think he is? Do you really think he is hunting?_ Caesar shrugged his shoulders.

 _We shouldn't worry too much, he can't get into too much trouble._ We all fell into silence for a few minutes, and next to me Blue Eyes had his baby brother in his arms and he was currently squeaking a little and reaching up for Blue Eyes' face. I giggled when the little one tried to hook his fingers into Blue Eyes' lip and Blue Eyes shook his head and snorted before looking at me as I was still laughing a little.

 _Welcome to the life of being a big brother!_ I grinned when he huffed at me and continued to watch the adorableness that was Caesar's sons, that is until a loud explosion sounded through the valley causing our horses to spook and try to take off but we were able to keep them under control for the most part.

"What the hell was that?!" I shouted as I turned my horse in a circle. Caesar growled and turned to Rocket.

 _Find out._ Rocket nodded and wasted no time in hopping off his horse and taking a few apes with him to enter the dam. I leaned forward and patted my horse's neck trying to calm him down a little.

"Easy, it's okay, calm down." The horse started trotting in place nervously and then stopped and pawed at the water making it splash everywhere. I looked over at Caesar after I was able to settle my horse to see him staring at the dam, and no doubt he had questions, so did I. First and foremost, what the hell were these idiots trying to do, kill themselves? I was about to get the chance to ask when we saw Rocket and his apes exit the dam and head this way with the humans behind them and one of them looked to be injured. Oh, it's just him, Carver I had found out was his name, why not just let him bleed out, or I can cut off his leg... I growled a little at my own thoughts and observed as they set themselves on the rocky shore and started fussing over Carver's leg. I could hear him cursing and huffing in pain and had to hold back a smile at the irony. Malcolm was staring over at us, which was a little creepy, to be honest, and then he finally walked over until he was about ten feet away.

"Thank you. You saved our lives. We've got a lot of debris to clear now. We might need a bit more time."

"How long?" Caesar's question went unanswered as his youngest son, who has yet to be named, jumped from Blue Eyes' arms and scaled down the horse before running over to the group of humans. Blue Eyes gave out an annoyed huff and jumped down to follow him, which made me smile. The youngest ape squeaked as he ran over and climbed onto the back of the female, Ellie, then looked at Alexander, then back at Ellie again. Both Caesar and I jumped down from our horses, Caesar was curious but I was cautious. I huffed a little as I walked up next to Caesar and Malcolm, who was also observing the scene. Caesar's baby climbed over Ellie's shoulder and sat in the teenage boy's lap, he looked around him in wonder at the beings before him and when Ellie hesitantly put her finger out, he grabbed it with his little hand. When Ellie and Alexander chuckled and smiled at the baby ape, I couldn't help but smile myself.

"Hey, buddy." I looked over at Caesar who was watching the scene with interest and then back over at the others to see the baby hop down from the boy's lap and from there I couldn't see him. Blue Eyes didn't have eyes on him either as he was trying to look over the humans the best he could. His brother then walked away from the humans and they were still laughing, even when jerkface Carver told them to finish up. The youngest of the brothers walked up to one of the human's cases and pulled himself over the edge to nestle himself inside. From where I was sitting I couldn't see what the youngling was doing, but I guess Carver didn't like it.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Get out of there!" Blue Eyes screeched when the human ran over and ripped what looked like a cloth from the baby's hand and then he charged at him. Caesar and I gave out simultaneous growls before advancing forward ourselves. Blue Eyes shoved Carver to the ground and then one of the other humans when he tried to come to Carver's aid. The bald guy also advanced forward only to have Blue Eyes get in his face and screech causing him to tumble backward. At this moment Caesar's youngest had scrambled away from the commotion and into his father's arms, but when Carver reached into his case and pulled a shotgun out of it and pointed it at Blue Eyes, Caesar handed his youngest to me, growled, and moved forward.

"Hey! I'll kill you!" Blue Eyes hissed at him and it looked like the guy was actually going to pull the trigger when Caesar grabbed the barrel of the gun, ripped it from Carver's hands and smashed him in the face with it. Both the gun and Carver landed hard on the ground and Caesar bent down to pick up the weapon before bringing it over his head, ready to pummel the human.

"Don't! Don't Caesar! No! No." I growled at Malcolm and hugged Caesar's baby to my chest when he gripped my shirt. Caesar hesitated before lowering the gun and turned around to face Malcolm. He observed the gun and turned it over in his hands until he was holding the grip with his right hand.

"Said… no… guns." When he said the last word, the gun went from pointing in the air to pointing at Malcolm. Caesar then moved the barrel to point at Ellie and Alexander.

"No. Don't." Ellie back up a little and put her hand up.

"Please." There's no use Malcolm, y'all made a mistake, and now y'all gotta pay for it. Caesar did a near 360 spin and pointed the gun at the other humans, one backed up against the logs behind him with his hands up and the other took a few steps back and stumbled a little. Caesar glared over at Malcolm, pointed the gun in the air, turned, jumped up onto a log, and lobbed the gun into the water. Caesar slowly turned around and continued to glare at the humans.

"I didn't know." I growled again which made Malcolm look over at me.

"You knew he was an issue, yet you've done nothing about it. You are as much to blame as he is." I jutted my chin towards Carver who was still on the ground, and Malcolm sighed and looked over at Caesar.

"Please, Caesar?" Caesar stepped down from the log and started walking forward and when he passed Blue Eyes, his son started to follow. When Caesar went to pass Malcolm he growled out his words.

"Human leave now!" The last word was yelled into Malcolm's face as Caesar walked by and when he came up to me I handed him his son whom he took and we mounted our horses while the apes around us hooted and screeched. We didn't give another look at the humans, just turned our horses away and headed for the village at a canter. Well, I was scared they would make some kind of mistake, and this one almost cost Blue Eyes his life if Caesar hadn't of stopped Carver in time… I didn't want to think about that so I just focused on guiding my horse through the trees at high speeds while trying to keep up with Caesar. Please, just let them leave and never come back… I think we have all had enough of this one bad thing after another bull shit, but when we pulled our horses through the tunnel and into the village center, the universe deemed us unworthy of such luck as we heard frantic screeching and a female ape jumping towards us while calling to Caesar. I gasped when I realized what the ape was trying to say.

"Cornelia?!"

A/N: Thank you all for reading! Please review and let me know what you think! I enjoy this story very very much and can't wait for y'all to read what I've written for War! I've made changes that are a little shocking even to myself, but it works for the story! Keep reading, and I'm gonna keep updating. So many more chapters to transcribe onto my computer from paper, but almost there! Again, thank you for reading, reviews are always welcome no matter what they say!


	5. Chapter 5

Something was wrong and whatever it is, I know I'm not gonna like it. The female ape that had come jumping and screeching at us when we arrived back at the village was frantic, scared, and in a rush. She ushered Caesar and Blue Eyes to follow her and without thinking, I followed as well. We quickly moved through the village and scaled up the rocks until we were able to start climbing our way to the top of Caesar's tree hut. It was difficult for me to keep up as my knee was still acting up and the quick movements and the stress I was putting it under was not helping, so when I got to the top of the tree hut Caesar was already by Cornelia's side and Blue Eyes was moving around his mother to crouch next to her.

"Cornelia? Is she okay?" Caesar looked over at me then at the apes in charge of her care.

 _We do not know. She is weak, will not eat, drink, she can not move._ A wheezing cough came from Cornelia, then she groaned and I stepped forward to crouch next to her head and placed my hand on her forehead.

"She's warm." I chanced a glance up at Caesar and saw mixed emotions on his face, worry, fear, confusion. It pained me to see him like that, and I felt bad for Cornelia as well. We all stayed with her for a while, watching over her to see if there was any change in her condition. She was moved positions every now and then and was currently laying on her left side, one hand holding onto Caesar who was stroking her cheek, the other resting on my arm as I had my hand on the back of her head, brushing my thumb over her fur. Blue Eyes sat behind his mother, holding his brother, and had his free hand on Cornelia's shoulder and was smoothing down the fur there in comfort. I'm not a doctor, I don't know how to fix this, I don't even know what is wrong with her. Maybe the birth of her son took too much out of her and she is so weak that her immune system is not fighting off what it needs to, so she has an internal bacterial infection? I do not know, but without some kind of medicine, she may not pull through this.

"Caesar." The ape turned his head to me slowly, and his eyes were red and puffy, I hadn't seen any tears come down his face, but I knew he was still very upset, and I hate seeing him look like this.

 _Without some kind of treatment, this might continue on. I am not a doctor, I do not know how to treat this, and I do not know what to do. I need you to tell me what you need me to do._ Caesar thought about this for a minute but was interrupted when hooting and screeching came from the entrance to his tree hut.

"Please, please. I just need to speak to him." I turned my head with a glare and a growl, about ready to tackle Malcolm and rip him to shreds, how dare he show up here! Caesar did nothing to stop me as I advanced forward but stopped when Cornelia tried to grip my arm and groaned at me. I looked behind me and gave her a sad look before sitting down again. Both Malcolm and Ellie were shoved into our view and I was surprised to see Ellie here but growled under my breath nonetheless.

"I'm sorry. That was all my fault, but I will make him leave." Before Malcolm even finished his sentence, Caesar was growling out his own words.

"This… my home. You should not be here."

"I understand." I snorted, God I want to punch this guy in the face so bad!

"Malcolm…" Ellie seemed to catch sight of a sick Cornelia as her wheezing breaths were loud enough to hear. The human woman gripped Malcolm's arm while staring over at Cornelia and Malcolm looked at Ellie, then over at the sick ape.

"She's sick." A couple apes raised their heads to look at Malcolm.

"How long has she been this way?" Caesar turned slowly to glare weakly at Ellie who hesitated before gesturing to herself.

"I have medicine. Antibiotics." Caesar continued to glare as Malcolm looked over at him.

"Maybe she can help." I don't like this… but this might be Cornelia's only chance.

"Do… not trust you." Caesar's voice was quiet, sad, and his words were spoken slowly, and he turned back to his wife.

"I don't blame you." Damn it… I can't believe I'm about to do this after these ass holes tried to kill my friends...

"Caesar." The ape looked at me with puffy eyes, a hard but sad look, and a half snarl on his face.

 _I don't like the humans being here any more than you do… but they may be our only hope. Without treatment, your wife might not make it…_ I frowned and looked down at Cornelia then back up at Caesar. I guess Malcolm thought I was trying to convince Caesar to send them away because his next words were of defense to themselves.

"Believe me, we are not all like him." Ellie was the next to chime in.

"Please… let us help you." Caesar adjusted himself a little, a look of deep thought on his face, looked down at Cornelia as she wheezed out a groan and he slowly turned to face the trespassers, still holding his wife's hand. I gave out a sigh of relief but glared at Ellie before waving her over. She approached very slowly, looking at Caesar every now and then to make sure he wasn't going to change his mind, and when she reached us she took off her backpack and set it down next to the ape she was about to treat and started unzipping it.

"One day." This had Ellie looking up at Caesar in confusion before he continued.

"You stay… one day." Blue Eyes tried to get his father's attention to protest but Caesar ignored him.

"We might need a little more time." Caesar turned quickly and loudly growled out his next words.

"One day!" That startled me, not the words but the way he said it, he is absolutely done taking shit from these guys.

"Ape will help." Again, Blue Eyes signed to his father, but Caesar was paying attention this time.

 _I will not help._ I frowned, Blue Eyes has every right to refuse to help, but I want them out of here as soon as possible.

 _I will help, Caesar._ Caesar shook his head then pointed to my legs.

 _I do not want you helping with your leg. I do not want you hurt._

"Caesar I can…"

 _Enough. You wanted me to tell you what to do, and now I have._ I was interrupted trying to explain that the more help they get the quicker they can leave, but Caesar wasn't having any of it and I growled.

 _You haven't told me what to do, you told me what I'm not doing. At least let me come with to make sure they don't do anything else stupid._ Caesar looked down to his wife, and I thought maybe he was ignoring me, but I wasn't giving up.

"Caesar, please." He looked up at me and sighed before nodding his head. I gave out my own sigh and looked over at Blue Eyes who was glaring at me.

 _Why do you want to help them? After everything, how they treated you, they shot Ash, they came after me and my brother!_ I sighed and gave my friend a sad look.

 _I know, Blue Eyes, but the quicker they get their work done, the quicker they can leave._ Throughout our conversation amongst ourselves, Ellie had been preparing what she would need to administer the antibiotics into Cornelia's system. I gave one last apologetic look to Blue Eyes and observed what Ellie was doing. It looked like she would be using a liquid antibiotic, which means a needle… lovely. Surprisingly the apes didn't seem to be too stirred up when Ellie pulled the needle out, only a couple light hoots here and there. Caesar was watching her with caution, now expecting something to go wrong since everything else has already come crashing down on us. Cornelia was too out of it to even notice that a needle was pushed into her arm, and when Ellie retracted back and set about cleaning her supplies, I felt impatience flare up.

"Well?" Ellie looked over at me and I don't know what she saw on my face but she smiled lightly.

"Give it a second to take effect, I also gave her a light sedative with the antibiotic so whatever pain she is in should lessen and will help her get better. It tricks her body into thinking the infection is gone and the immune system will build itself back up and fight off whatever is left." I looked down at Cornelia and already her breathing seemed to be getting better. A smile came to my face when she opened her eyes and immediately reached for Caesar. He took her hand in both of his and the hard, sad look on his face turned to loving and sad instead. I sighed and looked at Ellie who was zipping her bag back up.

"Thank you, Ellie. I don't think you understand how important Cornelia is to some of us." Ellie nodded her head in my direction and stood up before walking back over to Malcolm.

"Okay, so you'll give us one more chance?" I glared over at Malcolm before answering for Caesar as he was distracted by his wife.

"One more chance, do not fuck it up. To make sure you don't, I will be coming along as well, but Carver does not come. The dumb ass is dangerous and stupid." I looked down at Cornelia hoping the humans would just leave and wait outside for us, but no such luck.

"What did he do to you that has you so angry at him?" This question surprised me a little, and out of the corner of my eye, I could see both Caesar and Blue Eyes look over at me. I hesitated at first, not really wanting to tell them, but Caesar and Blue Eyes seemed curious as well, and I trusted them.

"Four years ago, I tried to join your colony, but I was denied by Carver and a man named Dreyfus. Their first excuse was that they didn't have any room, but when I called them out on it, saying they had a whole city, Dreyfus said he had heard about me from some of his military friends, a woman with black hair, red eyes, and pale skin, and said he didn't want a… traitor like me in his colony." I looked over at Malcolm now, a hard look on my face.

"They told me to leave, and I refused. Carver punched me in the face, and when I was on the ground, he shot me in the leg as a warning. That man is dangerous, reckless, and doesn't give two shits about anyone but himself." I looked back over at Cornelia, and when I saw Caesar was still staring at me I looked up at him. He was giving me a look of concern, this was the first time he had heard pretty much the whole story. He didn't say anything to me like I thought he might, he just turned back to the humans.

"Take them outside. We will leave soon." Rocket and the other apes hooted before shoving Malcolm and Ellie towards the entrance to the tree hut and down into the center plaza of the village, where they prepared for us to leave, again. We stayed with Cornelia for just a few more minutes before Caesar stood to leave and I followed. He gave me a look before walking towards the entrance and I sighed and looked over at Blue Eyes.

 _He's upset with me, isn't he?_ Blue Eyes, still holding his brother who was reaching for Cornelia, huffed a little.

Y _ou questioned his orders, I do not believe he is upset, but maybe you should speak with him about that. Koba is the only one to ever question him, but you provided a solution that didn't involve violence, that is why he agreed._ I sighed and looked over at the entrance where Caesar had gone.

 _I hate when he's mad at me…. Hurts more than I like to admit, I just couldn't let him go with them without having someone there who knows human behavior and can try to see it coming if they attack again._ I looked over at Blue Eyes with an apologetic look.

 _I'm sorry, Blue Eyes, for not being able to see that something was about to go down. And because of that, we almost lost you…_ Blue Eyes shook his head at me and gave a small smile.

 _No one could've known what the human was hiding, not even you. Go, they are waiting._ I gave my own small smile to my friend before leaving the tree hut. Everyone was already situated on top of their horses, and when I saw my horse standing next to Caesar up front I moved quickly across the plaza and mounted before we left with the humans leading the way to their campsite. When we arrived, the other humans were surprised to see us, and Carver had a glare on his face but also seemed a little nervous. Without any words, Malcolm walked into one of the tents, and when he came back out he was holding a backpack that he threw at Carver.

"You are waiting in the truck until we are finished with our work." Carver looked down at the bag and then back up at Malcolm.

"Wait, what? You can't be serious?!" I growled which made Carver look over at me and scuff, then he looked back at Malcolm who gestured to Foster and he came over and tried to usher Carver away.

"Let's go." Carver tried to push at Foster but Foster was larger than Carver and was able to grab him by his jacket and throw him towards the trucks and away from us.

"This is bullshit man!" I huffed as Foster kept pushing Carver away from the camp.

"Get him out of here." Malcolm seems to be done taking shit too. Foster continued to forcibly remove Carver from the premises.

"Move! That's enough!" As soon as they were around the corner from the campsite, Malcolm turned around and walked up to us. Me, Caesar, Maurice, and Rocket were on horseback, and the rest of the apes were on the ground.

"Okay?" I looked over at Caesar and scuffed when he didn't even give an answer, just turned his horse and headed in the direction of the dam. Malcolm and the others started to move quickly, grabbing what they would need to finish their work and they followed us when they were finished. The walk to the dam was short and quiet, the only sounds that were heard were the birds singing, water drops hitting the leaves, and the sound of mildly labored breathing coming from the humans. When we reached the dam, we didn't stay outside this time, we all filed into the concrete structure and Malcolm explained what needed to be done.

"We had to clear a blockage from one of the access tunnels below, and now we can't even get in there because of the debris. We need to clear that out and we also need to check all of the relays to make sure they are in good working order, if we fire this thing up with bad relays we risk burning the rest of them out." Caesar nodded his head, understanding what it was Malcolm was asking and turned to the group of apes he brought with us to help.

 _We will clear out the debris. Maurice and Rocket, you stay up here with the humans and assist them if they need it._ The two apes nodded at the orders they were given and I was about to ask what he wanted me to do before he turned to me and pointed to a high spot in the corner on top of a separate concrete room.

 _You watch from up there. No working._ I pouted at my leader, who ignored me and headed down to the tunnel and turned to climb to my perch where I would watch the humans from. Everyone got to work immediately and I noticed that the apes from the tunnel seemed to form a conveyer belt style system of removing the debris. I smiled at this, damn, he is fricking smart, I love it! Work was well under way now and watching the humans was starting to get boring, so my eyes started to wander around the room and I observed everything. Below me I could see Rocket and Ash helping to find spots out of the way to pile the debris, Maurice was wandering around and watching what the humans were doing, curious about how the dam worked. I also noticed all of the growth on the inside of the dam. Plants and moss were growing everywhere, through the concrete, on the railings, even on the machines. I was sitting on a patch of moss as well, and that got me thinking, how long has it been since anyone was in here? I looked to my right to try to see out the windows, but they were too foggy and dirty, but I noticed something else hanging in front of my face and gave out a girlish scream.

"Holy fucking hell!" I quickly jumped up and then back down onto the metal grates, my knee protesting from the impact, and everyone around me was startled and staring or hooting at me as I started wiping at my face and shoulders frantically.

"Big spider, big spider!" I straightened my posture a little and started walking away from where I knew the spider was.

"Nope… nope… don't do spiders… uh uh… not happening… fucking gross…" I shivered as the apes around me started hooting at me in amusement and even the humans started laughing. I looked up at Maurice who was smiling at me, then over at the humans and pouted at the laughs they were giving me. Hooting came from the tunnel and I looked over to see Caesar breathing heavy and a frightened look on his face until he saw everyone laughing at me and he gave me a look of confusion. I was still pouting when I pointed up at the platform.

"Big spider… no go up there again… hate spiders…" The look on Caesar's face slowly turned soft as he realized what had happened and a smile formed on his lips as he walked up to me.

"That fucker was huge!" I continued to pout as Caesar reached his hand up and plucked something out of my hair.

"You mean this guy?" From my hair, Caesar pulled the spider that had attacked me and I squeaked and jumped back before turning and hiding behind Maurice who still had a smile on his face. Caesar chuckled and his deep voice made me blush, why do I find that so hot? The spider was struggling in between Caesar's fingers and he just crushed it with a smile on his face.

"You are safe now." I couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not, but it sure sounded like it so I gave him a blank look.

"My hero..." I was most definitely being sarcastic and he knew it, so he decided to play along.

"Always happy to help, my lady." Caesar gave a lite bow before smirking at me and I growled at him. Someone has seen too many medieval knight movies… well now, that is something to think about.

"Smart ass…" Some of the apes were still hooting at me, I guess I was super entertaining to them and went back to work when Caesar signed to them. I looked over at the humans and huffed at them, pout on my face again, and they chuckled at me.

"You too, back to work." The group all returned to work and I went to find somewhere else to perch on the opposite side of the room from where I found that spider. There was some railing behind the machinery Malcolm and them were working on, so I went up the stairs and pulled myself onto the console, careful not to step on any of the buttons or gauges, and jumped over the machine to pull myself up onto the railing. I turned around, crouched down, then leaned my back against the metal beam behind me and continued to watch the activities in the room. Caesar had disappeared into the tunnel again, and this allowed me to think without the distraction of him being in the room. He called me 'my lady'... I know he didn't mean it in that way, but it still made my heart flutter a little, and when he chuckled, I love hearing that. My feelings keep growing and it is starting to scare me, and it still feels weird to have a crush on an ape, but I was starting to get used to it. I've had crushes before, and I've been able to deal with them easily, and even able to quiet them down until they were gone, but this one, I am having a hard time getting it to go away, maybe with some time? He also bowed to me, I know he was being a smart ass, I could see it in his eyes, but he basically did the stereotypical knight in shining armor type thing that you see in movies, so that begs the question, what was Caesar's life like before I met him? Was he ever with humans, he seems more trusting of them than someone like Koba who was abused by them. Did he grow up with humans, and seeing the good side of them? Has he seen medieval knight movies? God I have so many questions now, and I want answers but I really do not want to pry into Caesar's life, I would rather him tell me on his own terms if he even wants to. I was broken out of my thoughts when Foster, who was sitting on the floor by the console I had climbed over and was inspecting some relays, looked up at Alexander and spoke to get his attention.

"Yo, Alex. This relay's busted. See if there's another one." Foster tossed the relay to Alexander, who caught it and examined it.

"Yeah." Alex proceeded to hop down the steps and walk to the other side of the walkway and up to the rest of the equipment to search for another relay. I looked up and on the platform above us I could see more apes, but one of them I knew all too well. Koba was standing there staring down at the group below him and glaring. He gave out a snarl and hopped over the railing and started jumping down the machines until he landed on the platform opposite from us and I noticed that Blue Eyes had followed him. I continued to watch him, and when he caught sight of me he growled, which I glared at, this was the first time we had seen each other since our fight. Koba jumped over the railing again instead of taking the stairs and landed next to another ape, who stood up and turned around to look at Koba, and Blue Eyes landed on the higher platform where Koba had just been.

"Caesar…" Koba grunted and the ape looked and pointed in the direction of the tunnel where Caesar was overseeing the removal of the debris. Koba looked in that direction and started heading that way until Alexander came down the steps and walked in front of him. Koba didn't seem to like that because he put his hand up and on the back of Alexander's neck and shoved him to the ground with a snarl. Alex landed on the metal grating hard and cried out which made Koba turn and start growling and snarling in intimidation. I quickly stood up and balanced myself on the thin metal railing I was on and was about to jump and intervene when Malcolm started saying the word no over and over and ran down the steps to protect his son. Malcolm had thrown his body over Alex's who was trying to crawl backward, and he also threw his hand up in front of him in an effort to stop Koba as he advanced on them, still growling and snarling. Before the humans were ripped to shreds by our resident crazy ape, Maurice had put himself into Koba's path, just as he had done when Koba and I got into our fight yesterday. Maurice growled and rumbled at Koba to get him to back down.

"Where's Caesar? Want Caesar. Caesar!" When Koba yelled out Caesar's name, it was loud, deep, and he kind of sounds pissed off. Apes started grunting and Rocket came up to stand next to Koba as apes were filing out of the entrance to the tunnel. The room went silent when Caesar appeared and Koba turned slowly to see Caesar step down from the entrance to the tunnel and onto the metal grating, a firm and intimidating look on his face. As Caesar started walking slowly towards Koba, the ape who was, yet again, causing a scene, started speaking slow and angry words.

"Humans attack your sons. You let them stay?" Caesar stopped moving now, and Koba started walking towards our leader while gesturing behind him.

"Put apes in danger! Caesar love humans more than apes. More than your sons!" Koba had reached Caesar now, and with his last word, he pushed his fingers into Caesar's chest, who let out an angry breath and moved his eyes behind Koba to look at Blue Eyes. His son was panting slightly, either nervous, excited, or scared, I couldn't tell from my position, but when Caesar looked back at Koba, the scarred ape growled and the look on Caesar's face quickly grew to one of anger, a look I have yet to see on the usually calm alpha. Caesar's breathing quickened and deepened before he gave out a very human sounding roar and tackled Koba. Caesar rolled over the ape and when he stood up he was jumped on by Koba and they went crashing to the floor where Koba proceeded to beat on Caesar's chest a few times before he was flipped onto his back by the ape he was pounding on. Caesar returned the favor by continuously thrashing his powerful arms down on Koba, knocking him in his jaw more than enough times to make blood and saliva go flying from Koba's mouth. After having enough of just hammering Koba in the face, Caesar wrapped both of his hands around his neck and squeezed while using his strength to lift Koba off the ground and slam the back of his head into the metal grating a couple times. Caesar gave out another human like scream before hissing in anger. From where I was I could see that Caesar was not gonna stop, and Koba was losing his ability to breathe.

"Caesar no!" Caesar let out a couple of huffing breaths and the anger quickly drained from his face when he realized what he was doing. Koba's throat was released and the ape started taking quick and deep breaths of air to fill his empty lungs and Caesar started breathing quickly as well, taking his own deep breaths.

"Ape… not... kill… ape." Caesar's breathing slowed slightly as he rose to his feet and pulled his leg over Koba's body to step away from him. Koba looked around at the other apes, who all looked down or to the side to avoid eye contact. When he looked at me, I knew I had worry on my face, as I was worried, for both Caesar and Koba. We may not get along, but he is an ape, so he is still a part of the family, in a way, so of course I was worried about him, and for once, when we locked gazes he didn't glare or growl at me. He just continued to gasp quickly until he rolled over on his side and got up into a crouched position, not even looking up at Caesar, and put his hand out.

"Forgive me." Koba was panting and growling now as he usually does, and Caesar stepped up and started looking around at the other apes then down at Koba's hand. He slowly put his hand on top of Koba's, and the second he felt contact, Koba moved away quickly and headed for the exit without looking at anyone. Caesar gave out a sigh and looked at his son as Blue Eyes watched Koba leave then turned and looked at his father. I jumped down from my perch and moved through the other humans and down the steps until I was in front of Caesar. He didn't seem to notice me as I took one of his hands and started to examine his knuckles. There was blood on them, from both Koba and himself, it looks like he busted a couple of them open when he struck the offending ape. I sighed and started leading Caesar towards the exit slowly and looked around at everyone else as I was walking.

"Everyone get back to work. Please?" My voice was quiet and imploring as I pulled Caesar along towards the outside of the dam. He followed me without a word, sign, gesture, or hesitation and I wasn't going to let him go back to work until he calmed down a little, anyway. I continued to lead him until we had completely left the dam and were by the water's edge. I looked around to see if I could see Koba, but he was nowhere in sight and I sighed as I crouched down and brought Caesar down with me. He was staring off a little and not looking at me as I guided his hands into the water, but the cold must have stung because he hissed out a breath and looked down at his hands then up at me. I didn't look at him, just started to gently wash away the blood from his knuckles and fingers, and when I couldn't see any more crimson liquid coming off of Caesar's hands I pulled them from the water and examined them again. I wiped away some of the water and lightly ran my fingers over the busted skin. Caesar gasped a little and flinched which made me look up at him. He was giving me this weird look, it was a cross of appreciation and shame, hence the weird part.

"What?" Caesar couldn't sign since I was still holding onto his hands, and when he spoke his voice was quiet and almost childlike.

"I nearly killed him…" I paused before letting go of his hands and standing up and helping Caesar to his feet as well.

"Yeah, and?" Caesar sighed and was able to sign this time.

 _What will my apes think of me now? What will my son think?_ I shook my head and used my voice to answer him instead of signing back.

"He challenged you by suggesting you did not care for your own children, and you showed him who is boss, just as an alpha should. You continue to keep your position as our leader, and yes, you had to beat the shit out of Koba to do so, but you did not kill him, you stopped yourself, and hopefully, the dumb ass learned his lesson. Your son will think of you as a strong leader, and so will the other apes, I know that is how I think of you." I went to walk away until a hand grabbed my arm. I looked down at Caesar's bruised fingers gripping my forearm and then up and into his eyes.

"I did not stop myself, you brought sense back to my mind by calling out to me. If you hadn't of done that… I may have killed him, thank you, Kenai." Caesar usually doesn't talk that much, but it was refreshing to hear his voice, and he doesn't say my name very often either, so when he did it made my heart flutter just as it had when he laughed at me and called me 'my lady' earlier that day. I tried to force the blush away from my cheeks as Caesar released my arm and we both headed back into the dam. No one said a word when we entered, and surprisingly, Blue Eyes was actually helping with the final pieces of debris. I gave him a sad smile when I walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, he gave me a small nod and we finished up what needed to be done.

When we left the dam for the night, the debris had been removed from the tunnel and all of the relays had been checked. Tomorrow, they would be able to open up specific water pipes down in the tunnel and be able to turn the dam on to see if it would power up and start generating electricity. It was actually pretty exciting for me, I had not seen electricity being used in quite some time, not real electricity that is. I have seen generator powered lights and water heaters, but nothing on a larger scale, and by the way the other humans were talking, this dam is supposed to power up all of San Francisco. If it works, it is gonna be a sight to see, that's for sure. After escorting the humans to their campsite, we headed back to the village for our evening meal and rest, and as soon as we got there we set about starting fires and throwing meat over the flames. As before, Caesar would not let me help, as I kept damaging my knee, so I sat by a fire at one of the higher fire pits and watched the rest of the apes work.

When it came time for us to eat, everyone was silent, as word had spread around the village of the fight Koba and Caesar had gotten into and how Caesar had beaten Koba. Everyone stayed away from Koba except for Gray and Stone who stayed by his side, and even now sat next to him while they ate. I was sitting at the same fire pit that I have been for the last hour while watching everyone move around, and now Caesar, Blue Eyes, and Maurice sat with me. Caesar sat on the log directly to my right, Blue Eyes sat to his right about an arm's length away, and Maurice was almost directly across from me. From the corner of my eye, I could see Blue Eyes look up at his father, and it was difficult to make out what the young ape was feeling, but when father and son locked gazes Caesar signed to the younger.

 _You are my son. I need you to listen…_ Before he could finish Blue Eyes huffed and threw his plate of food to the ground and walked away to sit at the fire pit below us. Caesar watched him go and sighed before looking at me with a sorrowful look.

 _You sure he thinks of me as a good leader?_ I gave him an awkward and melancholy look.

 _He's basically a teenager, Caesar. That kind of behavior towards his father is normal. You should have seen me and my father, we used to throw punches at each other when we disagreed. Just, let him be for now and he will come around, I promise._ Caesar sighed again and looked towards the fire, and I continued to watch him with concern written on my features. We are so close to this being over with, as soon as Malcolm and his party get the dam working they can leave, and if they don't get it working by the end of the day tomorrow, they leave anyway. Either way, this will all be over tomorrow night, I hope. Please let this go off without a hitch, please, we don't need everything else falling apart… When I went to bed that night, little did I know that our lives have yet to change in the way the universe has planned for us, and we have a long way to go.

A/N: This one took me a little longer to get put onto my computer, so I do apologize for that, trying to get on a normal schedule and I'm getting there. Please, review and let me know what you think of it so far! Thank you all for reading and we will see you in the next chapter!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Before y'all start reading this chapter, I'm gonna let you know now that there are some things revealed in this chapter that are going to explain a lot about Kenai, not everything, but quite a few things, and they are quite quicy if I do say so myself. So, ENJOY!

Sleep was not coming easy to me tonight, too much was going through my head and it was keeping me up, so I stopped trying altogether. It was sometime in the middle of the night, the moon was at its peak, and it was quiet. I was sitting next to a fire pit, the fire itself having already been put out when everyone went to bed, so I had brought my animal skin blanket from my hut and had it wrapped around my body to keep me warm. I did not expect anyone else to be awake, much less the ape that was currently on my mind, so when Caesar sat down next to me I jumped a little, not realizing I had spaced out enough for him to sneak up on me.

 _Why are you out here alone? Shouldn't you be sleeping?_ I gave a small smile to my leader.

 _I can ask you the same question._ Caesar looked up at his tree hut and then back at me.

 _Cornelia has gotten better, but she is still very weak. I was watching over her when I saw you sitting here. Came to check on you._ I looked up at Caesar's home and sighed before looking back at the motionless fire pit.

 _Couldn't sleep, too much on my mind._ I was much better at sign language now, and I was even able to make out what someone was saying from my peripheral vision.

 _Like what?_ I looked over at Caesar and it took me a minute before I answered him.

 _Malcolm and his humans, Ash getting shot, how we almost lost Blue Eyes and your newborn son today, and you._ Confusion crossed Caesar's face now and I gave a small smile before a breeze of air crawled its way into my blanket and over my skin making me shiver. Caesar noticed this and stood up to begin starting a fire.

 _What about me has been on your mind?_ As I watched him strike two rocks together to create sparks, I allowed myself to really think about that question, but when flames actually came to life in front of me I had to hold back a chuckle, I still find it amusing whenever they start a fire with two rocks. I've tried it before and I never could get a fire going that way, and it always made me think about the movie Ice Age from when I was a kid. It had come out in 2002, and it is 2021 now, and I was only nine when it came out, nine years after that was the first outbreak of the virus, and now, ten years later, I am 28 and still can't get over being almost 30 years old.

"Kenai?" Drawn from my thoughts, I looked up and saw that Caesar was still kneeled next to the fire and currently staring at me.

 _Sorry, spaced out. To answer your question, everything about you intrigues me and confuses me at the same time._ Confusion still on his face, Caesar stood and took his place next to me again, this time he wrapped an arm around me to help warm me up, which I smiled at and layed my head on his shoulder. I didn't have to look up at him to know he was watching me, so I continued signing without pause.

 _I can't help but think about what I said to you back in your hut earlier today, you seemed upset with me for questioning you, and don't get me started on the questions I have for you. Where you came from, how you got to be so smart, how you learned sign language, why you want to help those other humans so bad, and why you saved me. I still don't understand why you risked everything for me._ This time I did look up at him, and he was staring down at me, pondering over what I said and thinking about how he was going to answer. He had to pull his arm back and off my shoulders to sign his answer, which made me lift my head from his shoulder and look at him fully now.

 _I am not upset with you, for anything. I was not prepared for you to argue with me over my orders, nor was I prepared for you to give me an ultimatum. I am used to being challenged by apes like Koba, not come to a mutual agreement. Saving you, seemed like the right thing to do, and it was. I do not regret doing that, no matter how it turned out, or how it will affect us in the future. Do not dwell on it, you are here now, safe, and you are one of my apes._ I felt a blush come to my cheeks and a smile to my lips and I looked back at the fire, letting the warmth from the flames engulf my shivering body. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Caesar still signing to me.

 _I have never asked you about that pack on your hip. What's in it? I've never seen you take it off._ I looked down at my black leather satchel strapped to my left hip and reached down to unclip the top. I put my hand inside and pulled out a handful of old pictures that I handed to Caesar so he could observe them, and the first one he saw was a picture of me and my younger brother when he was three, one year before he died, the same year the virus was let loose on humanity. Colin was sitting in my lap while we were on our back porch and on his lap was a baby chimpanzee, it's curious gaze looking towards the camera and a finger holding onto Colin's hand. Around us there was birthday balloons, confetti, and a birthday hat on Colin's head. Caesar looked over at me in surprise and wonder and I smiled at him.

"Why do you think I was able to get used to you guys so easily? My family crest involves a chimpanzee, and my life revolves around your species more than you think it does. I've never told you because I didn't want it to change the way you see me." Caesar looked down at the picture again and brushed his fingers over the chimp.

 _What happened to the ape in this photo?_ Sorrow crawled its way over my face and I looked away from the picture.

"That was not long before the Simian Flu virus started taking lives, and after it was given the name 'Simian Flu', my mother took him to the back yard and shot him. My family's crest, and our tribal animal is a chimpanzee, but that is only on my father's side, so my mother did not know how important he was to our family." Caesar was watching me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at him so I looked down at my hands and started fiddling with the animal skin wrapped around my shoulders.

"What was his name?"

"Tora. He was three years old, the same age as Colin, my brother. The first born son of a tribal member is given a chimpanzee infant to grow alongside, usually a male chimp. They become partners, almost like twins of a sort. In some Native American cultures the monkey can symbolize wisdom, intelligence, or even cleverness and tricks. My tribal animal is a chimpanzee because they are incredibly smart, they are four to five times stronger than humans, and they share approximately 99% of their genes with humans. Our elders believe the chimpanzee will be the saviors of our tribe, but now there's no one left to save." I felt tears sting at my eyes when I thought about my tribe and how they were all gone now. I never told any of the apes about this, but with Caesar, he deserves to know and I trust him with my life.

"There's still you." I looked up at my leader, who had a small sad smile on his face and I couldn't help but smile in return.

"Only because of you. Thank you, by the way, I've said it a hundred times, and I'm gonna say it a hundred more, thank you for saving my life." Caesar smiled again and reached his arm out to put his hand on the side of my head. I wanted to lean my head into his hand, but controlled myself, not sure how he would react, and instead continued to smile even when he retracted back. We sat silently for the next few minutes, gazing into the fire, and when a gust of wind rolled through the village I wrapped my animal skin around my body even tighter and groaned.

"Come, you may sleep in my hut tonight, with my family." To say I was surprised was an understatement, I was looking at Caesar with my mouth open, my eyes wide, and this weird kind of squeaky sound coming from my throat, I had no idea what to say, so I blurted the first word that came to my mind.

"Cuddles?" I know exactly why I was thinking this word since my mother used to call me a cuddle slut because I always wanted to cuddle, but it seemed to take Caesar a second to comprehend what it meant, but when he did he smiled and nodded his head. This brought a grin to my face as I stood up to follow Caesar to his hut, but not before assisting him in throwing dirt over the flames of the fire to put it out. I dragged my feet along the dirt towards Caesar's home, and scaled up the rocks behind the ape that had offered me a spot with his family. I still had my animal skin blanket hanging off my shoulders, and knew that apes didn't need such things because their fur and the presence of others helps keep them warm, but I brought it along anyway. When we reached the bottom of his tree, Caesar turned to me and put his hand out for me, which I took and he lead me up the log path to where his wife and two sons were sleeping. As soon as we reached the top, I could see Cornelia sleeping on her back with her newborn son on her chest, there was an empty spot next to her and then Blue Eyes was on the other side of that spot. That must be where Caesar sat while watching over his wife, and that is where he led me and gestured to the spot for me to sleep in. Cornelia and Blue Eyes both stirred a little bit and opened their eyes, Cornelia smiled at me then reached for her husband when Caesar went to lay down on the opposite side of where he told me to lay, and Blue Eyes gave a tired smile as well but reached his arm up to me. I smiled at him and laid my body next to his and he immediately put his arm around me and pulled me close. I was facing him, so I had my head resting against his chest, and I felt Cornelia and Caesar scoot closer to me and were now snuggled up to my back. I hummed a little which turned into a lite purr, and then into a small giggle before snuggling up to Blue Eyes and closing my eyes, a smile plastered on my face as I fell asleep with the sound of beating hearts and calm breathing filtering into my ears.

Morning was harsh, I had slept so good and was so comfortable being surrounded by Caesar and his family and I didn't want to get up, but morning had come and the sun was shining into the hut, forcing me into consciousness. I fought it off and tried to go back to sleep, but felt a hand on my shoulder shaking me awake. I growled at whoever was trying to bring me into the world of the living before swatting their hand away, all I got from that was a light chuckle and another hand, this time it was a miniature hand and it was on my face. I groaned and opened my eyes to see a baby chimp smiling at me and squeaking.

"You're lucky you're so darn cute." That chuckle from before returned and I moved my eyes behind the baby to see Caesar and Blue Eyes standing next to the bed.

 _Time to get up sleepy head._ I growled at Blue Eyes who just gave me a smile before walking towards me and scooping his baby brother up and handing him to Cornelia. The mother ape was still laying down behind me and her breathing was a little wheezy again, but she still gave a smile to her oldest before closing her eyes and trying to get some more rest. I sighed and sat up slowly before standing up and throwing my animal skin blanket at Caesar and his son. They caught it and threw it to the side before Caesar chuckled again, and I growled at him.

"I hate this waking up crap… so overrated." Both apes were still smiling at me as I trudge past them and started descending the log path out of the hut, and I knew they were following me. I was too tired to eat anything, so I sat next to a fire pit and watched the apes moving around the village center. I seem to be doing a lot of just sitting here, and I don't really like that very much. I need to do something, but I don't think Caesar will let me help with anything until he knows my knee won't be a problem anymore. I was sitting down for only ten minutes when Caesar walked by the fire pit.

"Caesar?" The ape in question turned his head to me and walked over to where I was sitting.

 _Is there anything I can do to help with the morning meal? I need to do something, just sitting here is driving me crazy and it isn't helping my knee. I need to exercise it to strengthen it again. Please?_ Caesar thought about it for a second, and even looked around the village center before looking back at me.

 _We will leave as soon as we are finished eating, you can assist in distributing food to others, and after that you can help to get the horses ready._ I grinned and nodded my head before standing up and looking around the area. I found what I was looking for, a few apes gathered around an old fire pit that were cutting up fruits and organizing nuts onto plates and pieces of bark to give out for breakfast. I made my way over to them, and when I was standing in front of them they all looked up at me.

 _Caesar told me to give you a hand._ A few apes looked at each other then around at their materials laid before them before they tossed two mangos at me and then handed me one of their makeshift blades. I grinned and crouched down before starting to peel and cut up the mangos. Mangos were my favorite fruit, so I had to control myself to not sneak any of it, but I was finished with my task quickly and didn't even have to ask for more before more fruit was placed in front of me and I proceeded to cut those up as well. Feeding an entire village took time, all of the food we had to prepare was hundreds, maybe even thousands of pounds, and my hands were pretty tired by the time every ape had a plate of fruits and nuts. One of the apes I was working alongside tried to hand me a plate of food, but I shook my head at him.

 _Not hungry._ Caesar must have seen this because he came over and took the plate from the ape before grabbing my hand and leading me over to a fire pit. He guided me over to a log and then put a hand on my shoulder before pushing me down onto the log and putting the plate in my hand.

 _Eat. You did not eat last night, or yesterday morning. You need to eat._ I sighed and looked up at Caesar who started walking away.

"Caesar, I'm not hungry." Before I could say anything else, Caesar turned around and glared at me, which made me shrink in my seat.

 _You will eat. I need you strong, I do not want you getting sick as well. Keep up your strength and eat._ I nodded slowly as Caesar sat next to his son on the other side of the fire pit and watched me as I picked up a piece of mango and put it in my mouth. Even though I wasn't hungry, I still ate quickly so I could go help with the horses, and when I was done I put my makeshift plate down and looked over at Caesar.

 _May I go help with the horses now?_ Caesar looked down at my empty plate then nodded before continuing to eat his own food. I stood up and headed for the horses, and when I got there, a few were already ready to go, so there was only a few that needed to be brushed and bridled and mine was one of them. I walked up to him and patted him on the neck before using my hands to start combing through his mane. It may not be one of the routine groomings we do with the horses, but I like to pamper my horse now that I have one so I continued to brush through his mane and remove tangles and knots. Not long after I started that, an ape walked up to me with a bridle and handed it to me so I could tack up my horse.

"Alright boy, let's get this show on the road. Hopefully it will all be over after tonight and we can get back to some normalcy." I patted my horse's neck again and put his bridle on before turning to the other horses and tacking them up as well. Being the lazy person I am, I jumped up onto my horse and took the reins to the others to lead them to the village center. When we arrived there, it looked as if the others were just finishing up their meals so I stayed on top of my horse and just handed off the reins as Rocket, Ash, Maurice, Blue Eyes, and Caesar came up to me.

Now that we were all finished with breakfast and mounted, we headed out of the village and towards the human's camp. Yesterday was a stressful day, so we were all silent and sluggish, but when we arrived, Maurice dismounted and headed into the camp on foot, and I stayed behind with Caesar and the others. When Maurice returned with the humans we made our way to the dam to finish whatever work needed to be done. When we got to the dam and Malcolm explained what needed to be done now, it did not seem like much, but it did take the rest of the day, and when it started getting dark, I started getting nervous. If they don't finish and we have to send them away, how will they react? Will they attack us, or will they leave us be? For the rest of the work I stayed outside with the rest of the apes, so when loud creaking and hydraulic sounds started coming from the dam, I looked over at Caesar. He wasn't looking at me, he was looking towards the road in and out of this area so I looked over that way as well and saw Ellie running towards us with a huge smile on her face. She ran past us and quickly started climbing over the logs before jumping down onto the platform and entering the dam. It took about 15 minutes of us looking around confused before all of the humans came out of the dam and started heading for the road. We followed them at a trot, curious as to what has them so excited, did it work? Is the dam powered up and generating electricity? How do they know without being in the city? Ahead of us we could see something glowing, and soon we came up on an old run down gas station with all of the lights on, inside and outside. I stopped my horse at the edge of the building and dismounted before moving to stand under the lights. I didn't notice Caesar when he rode past me as I was looking up at the lights, having to shield my eyes from the brightness, I haven't had to do that in a very long time and I started laughing a little until I heard something even more beautiful than electricity, music. There was music coming through the speakers now, and I looked over at the building to see Kemp messing around with the stereo, and as soon as I recognized the song, I couldn't help but close my eyes and put my hand over my heart.

"Well, that is a beautiful sound." I opened my eyes to see the other humans smiling and laughing, and to see Caesar looking up at the lights in wonder before he nudged his horse forward to stop in front of Malcolm.

"It worked. At least here it did. We'll know when we get back to the city." Caesar looked up at the lights, then over at me and I can guarantee he saw the smile on my face from there I was smiling so big. He then looked back down at Malcolm and sighed.

"Trust." Caesar extended his hand out to Malcolm, who gave Caesar a look of confusion before taking his hand in a handshake. I giggled and turned to mount my horse again, smiled still on my face. Caesar looked back at the rest of us, and his gaze stopped on me.

"Well, shall we celebrate?" Caesar smiled at me and shook his head a little before looking back down to the humans.

"Come with us." Malcolm gave another look of confusion before agreeing and following us to our village. We dismounted before entering the village center, but when we did, Caesar was leading, Ellie and Malcolm following him, Maurice and Alex were behind them, and Foster and Kemp were in front of me as I took up the rear of the group. Malcolm and Ellie were the only two who have ever been to the village, so what they were seeing they have seen before, but the other three have not been here, so what they were seeing was all new to them. They were observing everything around them while following Caesar through the center plaza and up to some of the rocks that led to a higher vantage point. Before continuing, Caesar turned and put his hand out for Ellie to take, she did, and he guided her up the rocks and against the wall below his tree hut. The rest of us followed, and Malcolm moved past Caesar to stand next to Ellie, Alex stood next to Caesar with Rocket behind them, Maurice was on Alex's left, I stood next to Maurice, and Foster and Kemp were next to me. Caesar turned and pointed out towards the city, and when I looked out there I gasped.

"The… lights." There was San Francisco, lite up and beautiful. I've never had the chance to see big city lights, and after the virus, I thought I never would, so this was one hell of an experience for me, and I was not disappointed. I was currently looking out at the lights, so I did not notice when Caesar left our group and moved up the wall to the platform under his hut, so when I looked over and saw him gone, I looked all around us until I saw him on the upper ledge with his wife and son. Cornelia looked like she felt much better as she was standing on her own, holding her newborn son, and hugging Blue Eyes. From here I could see the smile on Caesar's face, which made me smile, and I turned to look back out over the city. A minute or two went by and everything felt perfect again until the loud bang of a gunshot echoed through the village. The humans around me all crouched down to the ground, but I just started looking around me to see where the hell it had come from. When I looked up at Caesar and saw him holding his shoulder and staring down the cliff, my heart stopped and I had to put a hand on Maurice's shoulder to help keep me standing.

"No." My voice was quiet, and I hoped and preyed that I wasn't seeing this, but when Caesar fell forward and started free falling down through the trees I felt my knees buckle and I fell to the ground before I let out a loud yell.

"Caesar!" I tried to stand up and go to him, find him, I will jump off that cliff for him, and I think Maurice knew this because he grabbed me and pulled me back before I got too far. Hooting and screeching was going on around me, but I couldn't hear it, the only thing I could hear was the pounding of my own heart, and sobbing cries coming from my throat. I didn't realize when I had buried my head in Maurice's shoulder, but when I heard Blue Eyes' yell, I looked up at him.

"Human gun!" Maurice looked up at Malcolm and the others.

"Run." The other humans quickly moved to run towards the tunnel through the gaps in the barrier, and I tried to stay with Maurice but he wasn't having any of it, he pushed me towards the others, and I crashed into Malcolm who grabbed my hand and tried to pull me along but I resisted and turned back to Maurice.

 _Go with them, you will be safe!_ I shook my head vigorously at Maurice.

"No! I want to stay with you, I can help find Caesar, and the human that did this!" Maurice shook his head and look behind him where Koba was standing on the rock next to Blue Eyes who handed him the gun.

"Humans… kill… Caesar!" The rest I couldn't hear because I drowned it out and focused on Maurice.

 _There is nothing stopping Koba from killing you now. You have to go with them!_ My voice got quiet now, my teacher was sending me away, the ape that I was starting to fall for was just shot, and it hurts.

"Maurice… no… please…"

 _Caesar cared for you, he would want you safe. Now go!_ I gave up trying to argue and let Malcolm pull me along with him. We ran through the barrier, I could hear Koba still yelling but I couldn't make out what he was saying, hell I could barely see where I was going with the tears running down my cheeks and the fire trying to engulf us. Malcolm was still holding onto one of my hands, and my other was covering my mouth, trying to help quiet the sobs coming from it, but still I continued to follow the other humans until we ran through the tunnel and headed down the hill. The smart thing to do was to stay off the path that the apes created, so we headed into the woods instead. Running was all we could do right now as we were being chased by angry apes, but when Ellie tripped and fell we had to stop.

"Ellie! Ellie." The screeching was getting closer, and there was no way we were gonna get out of this, so after getting Ellie to her feet, Malcolm noticed a downed tree large enough to cover us and hide us from view, so we jumped behind it and hunkered down underneath it. Above us apes were jumping over the tree, not looking down into our little hiding spot, thank god, and I closed my eyes tight and gripped onto the person nearest to me, which was Ellie, and tried to ignore the shouting and screaming of Foster and Kemp who were not so lucky in finding a hiding spot as we were. My body was shaking and tears were still coming down my cheeks, but the sobbing had stopped for fear of being found by the apes hunting us. I ground my teeth together and waited with the others until we couldn't hear anymore hooting or screeching. It took several minutes for silence to reach our ears, but when it did, I felt movement to my right and opened my eyes to see Malcolm peaking out of our hiding spot under the tree.

"Okay, they're gone. Come on, we gotta get to the trucks." Malcolm helped Alex and Ellie out from under the tree as I just sat there and stared at the ground.

"Kenai." My name sounded foreign coming from another human, but I looked up anyway to see Malcolm reaching a hand out to me and giving me a sad and apologetic look.

"Come on, it's gonna be okay. Like Maurice said, we will protect you, I promise." I sniffled a little and hesitantly took Malcolm's hand and he helped me out of the hole we were hiding in. We had no idea where we were, even I didn't know and I've been living up here for over three months, so we just started heading down the hill hoping we would find something familiar that could lead us back to the trucks.

I was moving very slow, my brain running a hundred miles a minute, but at the same time, not working at all. I could think about only one thing, and that was watching Caesar fall from that cliff, and every time I saw that image I would start to break down again, tears would start flowing down my cheeks, my nose would start to sniffle, and my walking would get clumsy. I lost count of how many times I have tripped over logs, or branches, even leaves were difficult for me to navigate. I don't know if it was my slow movements, or the fact that it was a rather long walk, but the sun was starting to come up and it was getting brighter outside, so it was getting easier to see where I was going, but that didn't stop me from tripping on a log and falling to my knees, using my hands to break my fall. I sat like that for a minute, on my hands and knees, tears coming down my face, my jaw clenched tight, and my body shaking.

"Kenai, come on, we have to keep moving. We are almost there, I'm sure of it." I lifted my head to look up at Malcolm and allowed him and Alex to help me up before continuing to walk. Caesar is gone… he's dead… why does this hurt so much? I didn't feel this pain when my own brother died, so why does it hurt so much now? I continued walking behind Ellie and Alex nd out of my peripherals I could see Malcolm head to the left.

"We must be getting close." Me, Ellie, and Alex maintained our direction as we were coming up on a large tree stump.

"I think I see it. It's down here." I looked down towards where Malcolm was going so I wasn't paying attention to the fact that Ellie had stopped and I nearly ran into her. I looked at her then over at the ground where she was staring and gasped before quickly running around her and kneeling next to the motionless body of the ape I had watched fall down a cliff.

"Caesar! No… no, no, no." Fresh tears were now staining my cheeks and I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from screaming.

"Dad!" I ignored Alex calling for his father and slowly reached my hand over to rest on Caesar's forehead and stroking my thumb over his skin. I felt like I couldn't breath, and the pain in my lungs felt like I might not be, but when I saw Caesar's eyes move ever so slightly, I gasped.

"Caesar?" My voice was quiet and hoarse as I leaned forward and put my ear to his chest, when I heard quiet and slow thumping I let out a breathy sob and looked up at Caesar.

"You're alive! Son of a bitch, you're alive!" Behind me I could hear panting from the others, but I didn't care as I put my forehead against Caesar's.

"Oh, my god. Malcolm!" This time Malcolm came running when he was called.

"Holy shit, is he alive?" I leaned back and nodded without even looking at the man, tears still coming down my cheeks.

"We have to help him!" Before I was even finished with my short but pleading sentence, Malcolm and Ellie were already picking Caesar up by his shoulders and legs. I grabbed Caesar's hand and stood up to follow them down the hill, refusing to let go for fear that if I do, I might lose him forever. Getting him into the truck proved to be a little difficult. Ellie had hopped in first and they were trying to roll Caesar gently into the back of the truck.

"Ellie, help me. Come on." I had been forced to let go of Caesar's hand for them to get him in the truck, but as soon as they did I pushed past Malcolm and climbed in behind Ellie to sit on Caesar's right side. I put on hand on his shoulder, and my other found his hand and gripped it tight. Caesar was panting when he looked at me with wet and red eyes, and fear on his face.

"My… son… my… f-family. Where?" I frowned when a single tear fell from Caesar's eye and felt my own tears continue down my face.

"I don't know. Maurice… he… he sent me away when you fell… he said Koba would kill me." Caesar stopped panting and started breathing slowly while he stared at me.

"Try not to speak. You need to rest." Ellie took my left hand and brought it up to Caesar's chest.

"Hold." Ellie had put a cloth over his wound and I was to keep it there as she hopped out of the truck. I scooted closer to Caesar and put my left arm behind him and rested my head on his shoulder, listening to his breathing. I did not expect him to lay his head on top of mine or bring his right arm up to wrap around me the best he could in his weakened state.

"He's lost a lot of blood." Ellie looked up at Malcolm with uncertainty on her face.

"Is he gonna make it?" I heard Alex ask the question I was hoping to avoid and I clenched my teeth.

"I don't understand. Where did Carver get the gun? Why would he do this?" I growled at this question but surprise crossed my face when Caesar spoke up.

"Ape..." Malcolm, having not heard Caesar very well, stepped forward and ducked his head into the truck.

"What?"

"Ape… did… this." Oh my god… no… why, who? A serious and puzzling look crossed Malcolm's face as he backed up a step or two.

"Get in the truck." Ellie jumped into the back of the truck with me and Caesar, and Malcolm and Alex hopped into the front seats before starting the vehicle and driving us out of the woods and towards the city. It felt like a long drive, I was still cuddled up to Caesar's side when we crossed the bridge and entered the city limits. What were we about to get into?

A/N: I hope y'all liked it! Please review and let me know what you thought! Thank you very much for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Having entered the city now, I was focused more on Caesar and his shoulder wound, using my right hand now to keep the cloth over the wound, then I was on our surroundings.

"Oh, my god. Look - the colony's on fire." I had to look up and turn my body to look out the front windshield to see what Ellie was talking about, and sure enough smoke was floating up into the air on the other side of the city.

"Where are we gonna go?" Caesar grunts causing me to turn and look at him.

"Caesar, what?"

 _Help me up._ I did as I was told and helped him sit up a little so he was able to look out the windows. He looked around him for a second before pointing to a road ahead of us and to the left and grunting.

"Malcolm, turn left here." Malcolm turned left without question then looked back at Caesar who continued to look at the roads and continued to point at the ones he wanted us to turn down. I had no idea where he was taking us, or how he knew where he was going, but I knew I would find out soon. Caesar's strength started to dissipate, so he had to lay back down, but continued to give directions the best he could. When we turned down a long road covered in overgrown trees and rotting cars, Caesar sat back and huffed out a grunt of pain.

"Caesar?" The pain in my chest had lessened ever since we found Caesar in the woods, alive, but it was still there a little when I saw him in pain, and when he opened his eyes, weak and tired, I couldn't help but choke back more tears. Caesar gave me a weak smile and enclosed my hand with both of his until he looked out the window and started scooting closer to the glass and peering outside.

"Is this it? Are we close?" I looked over at Ellie, then back at Caesar who continued to stare out the window, searching for something.

"Where is he taking us?" Caesar started grunting and hitting his fist against the glass weakly.

"Malcolm, stop." The truck came to a stop in front of a house, and on the side of the street I saw a broken down Jeep Wagoneer, but when we got out of the truck I looked up at the house and on the very top floor there was a window with a very familiar shape and design to it.

"I don't understand. What are we doing here?" I looked at the window for a second, then at Caesar.

"It doesn't matter. We just need a place to hide him until we find out what's going on at home." As Malcolm and the others were trying to get him out of the truck Caesar just gave me a sad and weak look, but he knew that I had made the connection to the symbol he has all over the village to the shape of the window on this house. Is this where Caesar grew up? The injured ape was removed from the truck with Malcolm holding his shoulders, and Ellie and Alexander each holding one of his legs, so I ran ahead to the front door of the house and tried to open it. The knob turned and it clicked but when I tried to push it open it wouldn't budge, so I had to use my shoulder and slam into the door to force it open, and when I did, dust went flying everywhere causing me to cough a little before moving aside to let the others carry Caesar into the house. They stumbled past me and stopped in the hallway before Malcolm looked over into another room and nodded his head in that direction.

"All right, go move that table." Alexander let go of Caesar's left leg and quickly moved to the living room to do what Malcolm asked, and I closed the front door the best I could before picking Caesar's leg up and assisting them in taking him to the dusty couch in the living room.

"Okay. Right here." We all grunted as we set Caesar down on the couch as gently as we could and I noticed Alex looking at a picture over the fireplace before he grabbed it and brought it over to put into Malcolm's field of vision.

"Dad, look. Look." Malcolm looked at the photo then down at Caesar who looked from the picture up to Malcolm with a weak expression on his face. I moved around Ellie to get a look at the picture myself and saw that it was a young Caesar sitting in front of a human male who was smiling at him with his chin resting in his hand. I looked at the picture with my mouth gaping and then looked at Caesar who just groaned out a sigh.

"We need to operate; I don't have anything." I was broken from my thoughts when Ellie spoke up and looked over at Malcolm.

"There's a surgical kit back at the place, but that's…" Ellie was cut off by Malcolm who was still looking down at Caesar.

"I'll go." Ellie looked up at Malcolm with a worried expression and I moved around to the end of the couch where Caesar's head was resting.

"It's not safe." I sat on the armrest of the couch and put my right hand on Caesar's right shoulder as Malcolm looked over at Ellie.

"He's the only one that can stop this." Malcolm didn't give Ellie a chance to protest again, he just stood up and headed for the door but stopped before leaving the living room and looked over at me.

"You keep them safe." I looked at Malcolm and my expression turned firm before I nodded and he left the house to go to the colony. After he left, we did everything we could to make Caesar comfortable. Ellie sent Alex out to the truck to get some water, and when he returned we cleaned up Caesar's shoulder wound the best we could, and there was some blood splatter on his left cheek so we washed that off as well. It didn't take long before the ape was cleaned up and all there was for us to do now was wait for Malcolm to return. I refused to leave Caesar's side, I stayed with him and did anything I could to make him comfortable, so when he groaned in pain I moved from my spot sitting on the edge of the couch by his feet to kneeling on the floor next to him.

"Are you okay? What do you need?" Caesar started panting a little and didn't answer my question, only moved his right arm across his body to wrap his fingers around my wrist and start pulling me towards him. I allowed him to pull me along and I ended up having to climb over his body and nestled myself between him and the back of the couch. Caesar had to move over just a little for me to fit comfortably, but it was what he wanted, so when he grunted in pain there wasn't much I could do about it. After getting comfortable next to him, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and put his hand on the back of my head as I rested it on his chest, careful not to disturb his other shoulder. Chimpanzees require physical contact from other chimps, and I knew this was what that was, he was in pain, scared, and stressed out, so reaching for someone close to him for comfort was completely normal, but that doesn't mean it didn't make me blush because it did. Their need for physical contact might also be why I love to cuddle as well, it would explain a lot, actually... I moved my head up a little to bury my face in his neck to hide the blush and took a deep breath before letting out a heavy sigh and bringing my head back just enough to allow me to speak.

"Are you okay?" Caesar sighed and the arm around my shoulders tightened and he started stroking his thumb over my hair.

"You are part… of my family now…. Knowing you are s-safe, gives me great… relief, but I am… worried, for my sons… and my wife." I sighed and nodded my head while letting my fingers glide through the fur on his chest, just something to keep my mind occupied.

"I am too, but Blue Eyes is strong. For starters he is your son, so he's stubborn, and he has Maurice, Luca, and Rocket with him, so he should be safe. Ash is there too, and they are best friends, so they will keep each other in check. Your wife is well protected and no one would dare harm an infant." When I mentioned Blue Eyes being stubborn, Caesar huffed out a small chuckle, which he instantly regretted when pain shot through his shoulder and he panted a little from it but settled down rather quickly.

"Well, someone looks comfy." I looked up at Ellie as she came into the room, a smile on her face and a bottle of water in her hands. She kneeled next to the couch and I watched her as she offered Caesar some water and assisted him in drinking it. I had to move my head out of the way a little bit or I would have gotten smacked in the face with a water bottle, but when Caesar was finished Ellie offered it to me and I took it and used my right hand to pull it to my lips and take a few gulps. Once I was finished I handed it back to Ellie and gave her a smile.

"Thank you, for everything." Ellie smiled back and put the water bottle on the ground next to her before taking Caesar's left hand with her left hand and using her right hand to brush her palm over the back of his hand.

"You allowed us to stay, it's the least we can do. I don't know what good having the power on is gonna do for us now, but we tried, and you were very understanding and patient with us, so we should be the ones thanking you." We all went silent after that as we continued to wait for Malcolm to return, and after a while, I had continued playing with the fur on Caesar's chest. Alex had come into the room not too long ago and had sat on the floor across from us next to a chair and was observing the room. Caesar was getting quite a bit of physical attention, having me on his right side cuddled up to him and running my hand over his chest, and Ellie sitting on his left caressing the back of his hand, and he must have been enjoying it because when I looked up at him, his eyes were closed and his lips were slightly parted. I smiled and laid my head back down on his chest and sighed before the sound of the door opening had me sitting up quickly and looking towards the entrance. Alex also stood up in a swift motion and went to see if his father would need any help.

"I got it. How is he?" Malcolm walked into the room and went to hand Ellie a bag, most likely the surgical kit, and looked over at me and Caesar and gave me a smile as I was still by Caesar's side, sitting up with my hand still on his chest.

"Okay." Ellie was quiet when she spoke, but everyone stopped moving when we noticed Alex staring at the door and from around the corner an ape with a gun emerged.

"Blue Eyes!" I moved quickly but gently over Caesar and around the couch to embrace my friend. He put his arm around me and when we separated we touched foreheads before Blue Eyes looked over at his father who gave him a weak smile. Blue Eyes looked down at the gun in his hand then back at Caesar and gently put the gun down before slowly making his way over to kneel next to the injured ape who panted a little as his son moved towards him.

"Your… m-mother. Brother. Safe?" Blue Eyes was crouched next to Caesar now and I moved to stand behind him so I could see his response.

 _For now._ Both Caesar and I gave out relieved sighs, and Caesar started panting in pain as a tear rolled down his cheek. Blue Eyes reached his hand up to brush over the fur around his father's wound and turned to growl viciously at Malcolm and the others but I jumped in between them and put my arms up to block them from the ape.

"Blue Eyes, no!" Blue Eyes huffed at me a little.

"No." Now the young ape turned and looked at his father.

"Not… human." There was a slight pause to let Blue eyes process this information and I took this opportunity to move to Blue Eyes' right side and crouched down next to him.

"Koba." There was another pause, and Ellie turned to Malcolm to take the bag from him.

"Malcolm." Malcolm looked down at Ellie and let go of the bag.

"Yeah, yeah." Ellie moved to the middle of the living room slowly, keeping her eyes on Blue Eyes to make sure he wasn't going to attack her, and she kneeled down as she spoke to Caesar.

"Caesar… we need to do this now." I looked over at Ellie, then at Blue Eyes and saw that he was looking away from Caesar, a pained and hurt look on his face.

"Son." Blue eyes looked up at his father, a single tear running down his cheek, and took his father's hand when Caesar reached for him. Ellie had to sit where I was currently at so I stood up and moved to where I had been sitting when we brought Caesar here. From where I was sitting by Caesar's head I could watch Ellie work, I didn't need to be wary of what she was doing, I trusted her now, but it was a reflex to be cautious when it came to Caesar, especially as of late. Ellie worked quickly and gently to administer a knockout drug into Caesar's system, remove the bullet from his shoulder, clean him up, and stitch up the wound. She asked for assistance every now and then, mainly for the removal of the bullet, but she was finished quickly.

"Okay, now we just need to wait for him to wake up to see how he does." I looked over at Ellie with a tired and sad smile on my face.

"Thank you, Ellie." She gave me a nod of her head and left to join Alex out on the front porch and after a minute Malcolm joined them. Me and Blue Eyes remained with Caesar, waiting for him to wake up. Blue Eyes sat next to the couch looking at me as I sat next to Caesar's head on the floor with my back leaning against the couch. I looked over at Blue Eyes and released a heavy sigh.

 _I am glad you are safe._ Blue Eyes huffed a little and reached his hand out for me, which I returned the gesture and took his hand in mine.

 _Why did you disappear? Many of the apes think you worked with the humans to harm my father._ I sighed and clenched my teeth together before relaxing my jaw.

 _And who told them that?_ Blue Eyes hesitated before answering as realization crossed his face.

 _Koba._ I nodded my head a little before looking behind me at Caesar and letting go of Blue Eyes' hand to reach up and grab Caesar's left hand.

 _I would never hurt your father, Blue Eyes. He saved my life, I still owe him._ Blue Eyes watched me for a second as I used my thumb to caress the back of Caesar's hand.

 _What does my father mean to you?_ I looked at Blue Eyes with a startled look before a mild blush crossed my cheeks and I looked back at Caesar to think about how to answer that question.

 _I know I care for him, greatly. I have a large amount of respect for him, I trust him with my life, but beyond that… I honestly don't know if I can put a label on it._ Blue Eyes said nothing and we fell into a motionless silence for a while. It was taking quite a while for Caesar to wake up, the only indication we had that he was still alive was his shallow breathing and it was well into the night now. Blue Eyes sat in his same spot but was now looking at the picture that Alex had found, and I was standing by the window looking out of it when a loud gasping came from behind me. I turned around quickly to see Caesar sitting up a little and panting, and Blue Eyes had kneeled on the couch at his feet with his hand outstretched, ready to help his father in any way he could. I moved to Caesar's side and clutched at his left hand, he looked over at me then back at his son before his panting slowed to deep, even breaths. A sad and weak smile formed on Caesar's face as he looked at his son who lowered his body to sit on the couch next to Caesar's right leg and his left knee, as he had his left leg bent and his foot resting under his right leg.

 _I'm so sorry. For everything._ Caesar shook his head at his son.

"No. I… am to blame."

 _But Koba betrayed you._ Again Caesar shook his head.

"I… chose… to trust him because he is ape." Sadness grew over my features as Caesar continued to speak.

"I always think ape better than human. I see now… how much… like them we are." Caesar looked over at me briefly before returning his gaze to Blue Eyes and moving his upper body up just slightly.

"Where Koba now?"

 _On the human tower… Loyal apes around him._ The look that had come over Caesar's features was hard and intimidating.

"And those… who not follow?" Blue Eyes signed his next words with a quiet growl.

 _Prisoners. Maurice. Rocket._ Blue Eyes paused for a second and I saw pain come over his face and fill his eyes.

 _Koba killed Ash._ My hand instantly flew up to my mouth as the news that my first best friend I've ever had was killed.

"No…" I didn't think I had any more tears left in me, but lo and behold, I felt my throat clench up, my vision got blurry, and my cheeks felt hot and I felt Caesar grip my hand. The next words that Blue Eyes signed were accompanied with a pained growl and a forced exhale as tears were also coming down Blue Eyes' cheeks.

 _Fear makes other follow. But when they see you alive… They will turn from Koba._

"Not if I am weak. Ape always... seek strongest branch." I clenched my teeth together and forced myself to stop crying, Caesar and Blue Eyes need me to be strong, I need to be strong, for Ash.

"I must do something… to stop him." Caesar tried to get up, but Blue Eyes put a hand on his shoulder and he fell back into the couch gritting his teeth and panting in pain. Blue Eyes was giving out pants that were half hoots as well until his father stopped moving and settled down.

"Father? Let… me… help you." With every word Blue Eyes said, my eyes would get wider, and Caesar would sit up more and more until he pulled his hand from mine and put it on the side of his son's head. Caesar was proud, whether it was of Blue Eyes' speech or the fact that he wanted to help, I couldn't tell, but I felt pride bubble up in my chest as well as I watched the scene in front of me. Caesar gave a slow nod to his son, and Blue Eyes went to stand up to leave before I grabbed his wrist to stop him.

"Be safe, Blue Eyes, please." Blue Eyes said nothing as I let go of his wrist and he headed for the door as I stood up.

"And Blue Eyes." The ape stopped before leaving the living room and turned to me.

"Bring the rest of my boys back." Blue Eyes huffed, grabbed the gun that he had set next to the couch, and gave me the best-lopsided grin he could muster with the current circumstances before leaving the house. I continued to stare at where he had just been standing for a minute or two when I felt a hand on my arm and I looked down at Caesar who was giving me a sad look.

"Are you okay?" I don't think I can answer that question right now so I looked down at the floor and closed my eyes, trying to will away the tears that wanted to fall.

"I need to be strong… for you, for Blue Eyes, and for Ash." I felt my knees start to get weak so I sat on the couch where Blue Eyes had been sitting so I wouldn't collapse and folded my hands in my lap.

"He was my friend, my best friend. Not only was he my first friend in the village, he was my first friend ever, outside of my family." My eyes were still closed, so I didn't see Caesar move, but when I felt two hands rest on top of mine, I opened my eyes and looked at Caesar. I felt my body start to shake as I felt anger towards Koba flowing through my veins.

"He will pay… please tell me he will pay…" My voice had started off strong but got quiet and weak towards the end of that sentence as I stared into Caesar's eyes. Just then, footsteps were heard behind us and neither Caesar nor I looked to see who it was, we knew it was Malcolm, Ellie, and Alex coming to ask where Blue Eyes was going.

"I promise... there will be consequences for Koba's actions." I felt a sob go through my chest and had to cover my mouth again with one hand as Caesar took the other and pulled me towards him to embrace me. Caesar looked up at Malcolm with a hard look as the humans looked on with sorrow on their faces.

"Where is your son going?"

"To free... the apes that are still... loyal to me and bring them here." Caesar laid back against the armrest and pulled me along with him so I could lay on his chest again, only this time, I really was laying on his chest. I had my head under his chin, my arms tucked up under me between our chests, my right leg was in between his legs, and my left was on the right side of his right leg. He wrapped his arms around me the best he could and laid his chin on the top of my head and tried to comfort me. It worked pretty well, my crying turned into quiet hiccups every now and then and with the help of my body being exhausted from not sleeping for nearly 48 hours, I was able to fall asleep quickly.

The next morning I had slept in quite a bit, and everyone let me be to wake up on my own. I was still on the couch with Caesar and still laying on top of him, but my arms had moved from being in between us to wrapping around Caesar's body and my hands were tucked under his back. I groaned a little and tried to lift my head only to feel a hand on the side of my head. The person felt me stir and moved their hand from my head to my back, and I lifted my head up to look at Caesar who gave me a smile.

"There she is." I groaned at him again and my face fell when I remembered yesterday and everything that had happened. I allowed my head to roll back down onto Caesar's chest and his hand returned to where it had been resting on my head. I kept my eyes open and just observed what I could see until Ellie came into my sights.

"Hey, you're awake. We have some food and water for you." I lifted my head and pulled my right hand from under Caesar's body to take the water bottle from Ellie before putting it to my lips and drinking. I didn't realize how thirsty I really was until I finished the entire bottle and handed it back to Ellie and laid my head back on Caesar's chest and put my hand under his back again.

"Here." Ellie tried to hand me a bowl of food, but I wasn't hungry so I shook my head the best I could with my head on Caesar's chest and his hand still on my head.

"Not hungry." Caesar heaved a sigh, and I felt it through his chest.

"Kenai…" I shook my head again before Caesar could finish and picked my head up to turn it on the other side to face away from Ellie and towards the back of the couch. Ellie sighed and gave a sad look to Caesar before putting the bowl down on the table and leaving the room.

"Kenai, you need to eat." I ignored Caesar, or at least tried to, I really did not want to eat this time, but Caesar wasn't giving up on me. He took his right hand and put it under my chin to bring my head up to look at him, I had closed my eyes when I turned away from Ellie, so I opened them and almost gasped at how close we were. Caesar closed the distance between us and put his forehead against mine making me sigh and close my eyes. When I opened them again, Caesar was staring at me, and I stared back determined not to back down this time. The hand under my chin moved to the back of my head as our staring contest continued and finally Caesar sighed and gave in before letting his hand fall away from my head. I didn't really want to move, so I kind of just stayed there and closed my eyes, our foreheads still touching, and allowed myself to be consumed by the warmth of Caesar's body and his breath on my face.

"Why are you so stubborn?" I shrugged my shoulders a little and opened my eyes again.

"I think I got it from my father, and that is probably why me and him used to clash all the time." No matter how much I wanted to keep my position, my neck started to protest from the angle, so I had to lay my head down again to relax my muscles.

"You had said before that you and he used to come to throwing punches, why is that?"

"We didn't get along very well. I don't remember when it started but when I was younger I had a bad temper, and so did he. I kept seeing boys in our tribe with their chimps and I wanted my own chimp, so I kept asking for one, and after a while, my father got so fed up with it he yelled at me and struck me across the cheek. After that, we were on the ground pounding at each other, and ever since then, every time we came to a disagreement we would just start throwing punches." Caesar hummed and brought his arms up to wrap around my back, just as they had been last night. I looked around the room and my eyes landed on the picture on the coffee table that Blue Eyes had been studying last night, and a question popped into my head.

"This house, who lived here?" Caesar seemed taken aback by this question and it took him a minute to answer.

"I did… until I was 8 years old."

"So that is you, in that photo?" Caesar nodded his head.

"You grew up with humans… is that why you were able to trust them?" Caesar nodded again, but this time slower and more unsure of himself. I sighed and snuggled closer to him, fully intending on going back to sleep, but I felt Caesar shake his head and move to sit up a little.

"You need to get up and move around, some activity might make you want to eat." I groaned in protest but sat up anyway and gave a pout to my leader before climbing off the couch and standing up to stretch. I had been so comfy cuddling with him, and now I feel cold. I gave another pout to Caesar who just waved me off weakly, and I turned and left the room to find somewhere to go pee. I had slept until late in the day, and after going pee, I had gone back to the living room to sit in the chair. There wasn't much else to do other than more waiting, so I just sat and watched Caesar who was still laying on the couch resting. I knew he was awake, but he had his eyes closed, so he couldn't see me staring at him. I haven't had many chances to really look at him over the last three months because we were always surrounded by other chimps. Now, I can stare all I want to, and stare I did. I watched him as he rested, observing him, his handsome facial features, his broad shoulders and muscled biceps, his thick upper thighs. When I was looking at his thighs my eyes wandered up to his crotch a couple times and I blushed and turned my head away before my eyes trailed back to that forbidden area. What the hell is wrong with me? I blushed again but lifted my head when someone entered the room and saw Ellie standing there looking from me to Caesar and back to me with a small smile on her face.

"Kenai, may I borrow you?" The blush disappeared from my face immediately and my body tensed up and I looked over at Caesar who had opened his eyes. Fear crossed my face, I haven't been alone with a human without being attacked in a very long time, and I think Caesar saw this on my face because he gave me a look of reassurance.

 _It is okay, Kenai._ I gave a slow and hesitant nod before standing up and following Ellie through the house and into the kitchen. When we were alone, Ellie turned to look down at me, smile still on her face, but her voice was a whisper now.

"You're in love with him." Holy shit, I was not expecting that. My eyes widened in surprise and embarrassment and the blush returned to my cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry… I do what now?" I was trying to play dumb, but I knew that Ellie knew I was acting, and very poorly at that. Was I really in love with Caesar? No… it's just a crush, right? It's just… a crush…

"I've been observing the way you are with him, how you look at him, and especially when you cuddle with him. You have the same look on your face that I do when I look at Malcolm. You are in love with Caesar!" Ellie's voice was still quiet, but it was also excited. I felt nervousness weave its way into my system and embarrassment was still evident in the blush on my cheeks, so I looked down and started fiddling with my fingers.

"I think… h-he's very handsome… I-I don't know if I can call it love… I've n-never been in love before." The smile on Ellie's face turned into a grin and she put a finger under my chin to lift my face to look at her.

"Well, this is what love feels like."

"Y-you don't think it's weird? H-he's an ape… and I'm a-a human." The grin on Ellie's face turned back into a smile as she looked down at me.

"It is not my place to judge. These days, you have to find love wherever you can, and when you do, don't ever let it go." I felt a smile tug at the corners of my mouth as Ellie put her hand on the top of my head and ruffled my hair making me pout at her and she just giggled at me. Ellie walked out of the kitchen and back towards the front door where Malcolm and Alex were sitting on the front porch, and I stayed in the kitchen for an extra minute trying to get my cheeks to stop colorizing themselves. After that was done, I walked back through the house, a content smile on my face and entered the living room where Caesar was still resting. When I entered the room I looked at Caesar, and he saw the smile on my face which made him smile in return. Now that Ellie brought this new information to my attention, I saw Caesar a little differently. I wasn't embarrassed anymore to look at him, or think about him, or to care for him. I no longer thought about the fact that it was weird that I liked an ape, I just felt happy that I had someone to like that didn't mind having me around. It was like a revelation. My smile widened the longer I looked at him and I sat back down in my chair I was in previously and continued to watch him.

 _What did you two talk about that has you so happy?_ I grinned and shook my head.

 _Girl stuff._ Caesar gave me a look of confusion but left it at that as he closed his eyes again. I sat there and continued to think about what Ellie had said, Caesar may have a wife, and I may never get a chance to be with him, but that is not gonna stop me from loving him and protecting him and his family. Thank you, Ellie, for helping me realize how I really feel.

The rest of the day went by slowly, there wasn't much daylight left anyway and it was dark out. Again, Ellie and the others tried to get me to eat, but I couldn't, my stomach just not feeling it. Malcolm, Ellie, and Alex had taken to sleeping on the floor in the living room, Caesar still resided on the couch, and I had taken over the chair in the corner. The other humans had gone to bed and were fast asleep now, and as I looked over at Caesar his eyes were closed and he looked to be close to sleep himself. I smiled a little seeing him look so peaceful and closed my eyes to sleep as well.

No energy, I had absolutely no energy this morning. I did not want to get up, and I don't think I can, to be honest. I opened my eyes the best I could to see Ellie and Malcolm moving around the room, Ellie was helping Caesar sit upright and eat some food, and Malcolm was going about folding the blankets and setting aside the pillows they had used the night before. I knew it was a bad idea to get up, but I had to pee, so I moved my legs off the chair and onto the floor before pushing myself off the chair and into a standing position. This must have gotten everyone's attention and I must not have been standing upright or something because I heard a worried voice coming from the couch.

"Kenai, are you okay?" I waved my hand at Ellie to try to tell her I was fine.

"Have to pee." I took one step to exit the living room and my head started pounding, my vision went blurry then black and my ears started ringing before my body went completely weightless. I felt like I was still standing up, but when I opened my eyes I saw the ceiling and a few worried faces hovering over me.

"Kenai? Kenai! Can you hear me?!" I gave a confused look to Ellie and could barely make out what she was saying, there was still a ringing in my ears and her voice sounded far away.

"Kenai!" The voice of Caesar broke through the cloudiness in my ears catching my attention and I turned my head to see him trying to get up off the couch, a frightened and worried look on his face.

"No… Caesar… stay. I'm fine. I feel a little… dizzy." Caesar stopped moving, and a huff from above me made me look up at Ellie who was giving me a disappointed and annoyed look.

"That's because you haven't been eating you dope! Come on, let's get you some food, and you are not arguing with me this time." I groaned in response and allowed Ellie and Malcolm to help me up and sit back in the chair, and Alex brought over a bowl of food. I did not protest or argue this time, I just sat there and ate the food given to me, which turned out to be a double serving since I haven't eaten a full meal in so long. Caesar continued to watch me with worry on his face and every time I looked up at him I would just smile an awkward and sheepish smile before going back to eating. After finishing my food I put the bowl down on the floor, sat back, and sighed before looking back at Caesar who was, to no one's surprise, still watching me.

 _If you hadn't of been so stubborn, this could have been avoided. You scared me!_ I frowned at this.

 _I did not mean to frighten you. I promise I am fine._ Caesar huffed at me and just then I felt an urge that made me squeak and go to stand up again, but Ellie didn't seem to want me to do that just yet as she walked over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"No, you need to let your food settle before you move around, you could pass out again." I gave Ellie a look of death as I stood up to my full height, which wasn't much since I was only five feet nothin'.

"I have to pee, and unless you want me peeing all over this chair, then I am going to go pee." I gave her a pout before walking away to go to the potty, but not before Ellie gave me a small smile and Malcolm chuckled at me. When I returned, I felt much better with a full stomach and all of the rest my body was getting so I decided to head outside.

"Thank you for the meal, I feel much better now. I need to stretch my legs though so I'm going for a walk." Ellie gave me a hesitant look, almost like she didn't want me to go but knew it would be good for me, but when I looked at Caesar he had an 'absolutely not' look on his face.

"Don't even give me that look, I'll be fine, I promise. If anything happens I'll come straight back here." Caesar huffed out a growl before looking away from me and I took that as my okay to leave. It was a little chilly outside, so I decided to go for a run instead to help keep me warm and strengthen my body again. I walked down the stairs, past the truck, and then started jogging down the road, and instantly I could feel myself warming up. There were trees lining either side of the road, and they were starting to overgrow onto the road itself, so I jogged up to one of them and started climbing the base of the trunk. Now up in the branches, I started swinging from tree to tree and just enjoyed being outside and up off the ground. I've always felt comfortable up here, I never really knew why, maybe it was our tribal animal, the chimpanzee that was fueling me, or maybe it was something trying to tell me that this, this is who I am, who I am meant to be, and I am with the people I am meant to be with. Well, not right now I wasn't anyway, Koba made sure of that. I growled when the thought of Koba and what he has done came to my mind. I'll kill him myself if I get the chance, for everything he has done. I could deal with the way he treated me before the humans showed up, I was used to that kind of behavior, but now that Koba has torn everything to shreds, I have no problem putting a spear through his heart. He betrayed Caesar, he killed Ash, he tried to hurt Alexander, who is just a child compared to the rest of us. Who knows what else he has done! Where did he get the gun? Did he steal it, or did he kill for it? Not to mention Carver wasn't anywhere to be found when we got to the trucks, and I could have sworn I saw his hat in Blue Eyes' hand back at the village after Caesar was shot. Did Koba kill Carver, too? My thought process was halted when there wasn't another tree in front of me to jump to, just a decrepit and destroyed road. I sat down on the branch I had landed on and let my legs swing below me as my mind continued to venture and ask questions. Why did Koba kill Ash? What did Ash do or not do that pissed Koba off for him to break one of the ape laws? Caesar and Koba were best friends, almost like brothers, why would Koba save Caesar's life from that bear all those days ago, just to try to kill him now? Did seeing the humans rekindle the fire inside him, fuel his anger towards my species for what they did to him? A lot of these questions can't be answered, but hopefully, I can get some answers once Blue Eyes returns and Caesar is strong enough to reclaim his position as our leader. Speaking of Blue Eyes, where was he, tonight will be two days since he has left to free Maurice and the others, God please let him be okay. I didn't realize how long I had been out when I looked up at the sky and noticed the sun was around the 4 o'clock position.

"Oh, shit, I've been out for a while." I turned around and looked at the trees behind me.

"Hope I can remember my way back." I didn't make any turns or anything like that, so if I just keep going straight then I should be fine, and I did just that. The journey back to Caesar's old house didn't take long, which means I had been sitting in that tree motionless for longer than I thought. When I saw the truck come into view I sighed and jumped down from the tree and rolled to break my fall before jogging up to the truck to see Malcolm walking out of the house.

"Caesar was just sending me out to find you, he's worried. You've been gone for a few hours." I smiled and giggled a little.

"Of course he is." I walked past Malcolm and up the stairs to enter the house and was not expecting to walk straight into Caesar when I came through the door.

"Before you say anything, I'm fine, I was just hanging out up in the trees and lost track of time." Caesar growled lowly at me and the look of disappointment on his face melted away into mild annoyance which I sighed at and followed him into the living room to see Ellie and Alex sitting on the floor.

"Nothing like a pissed off alpha to make you feel like you missed curfew." Ellie and Alex laughed at this and I smirked at Caesar when he turned to give me a warning look before he sat down on the couch.

 _I was worried about you._ I sighed and sat down next to him and put my hand on his knee.

 _You seem to be doing a lot of that lately._ Caesar looked over at me and sighed as well.

 _You also seem to be getting your strength back._ Caesar huffed and sat back to get comfortable on the couch again.

 _Slowly, but yes._ I chuckled at this which made him look at me with a questioning gaze.

 _Slowly? It's been two almost three days since you were shot and you're already sitting up. It took me ten days of being passed out and another two weeks before I could walk on my own when I was shot._ The next words I didn't know how to sign one of them so I just spoke them.

"You are one tough mother fucker, Caesar." Caesar rolled his eyes at me then pointed over at Ellie who had some bowls in her hand.

 _Shut up, and eat._ I smirked at him but then groaned at Ellie as she handed me a bowl of food.

"Again?" Caesar huffed at me and I just gave him a pout before leaning back and eating my food, slowly. Caesar was also given a bowl and he ate as well but continued to watch me out of the corner of his eye. It had been quite a few hours since breakfast, even though it was a late breakfast, so my body was ready for more fuel, and I was grateful for the full tummy after I finished my food. For the rest of the day, we all sat in the living room and just talked. We told stories to each other, about our lives before the virus, how we survived the virus. Caesar didn't say much, but he did ask questions every now and then, and now was one of those times.

 _Do you miss your old life?_ I looked at Caesar in sadness and thought about that for a second.

"Some times. I miss my mother, brother, and Tora the most. But I also miss music and dancing." I huffed out a laugh when a thought came into my head.

"I've always had this dream, or fantasy really, of dancing in the rain with a guy who would kiss me after our dance and I think that is where my love for it came from."

"You danced?" I looked over at Malcolm and smiled.

"Yeah. I would slow dance with my mom all the time, and when I was in middle school I took up a little bit of hip hop dancing, but in high school, I started experimenting with Burlesque and Moulin Rouge style dancing, and I really enjoyed that." Ellie giggled at the look Caesar had on his face. Chimps don't express the same way humans do, they can't frown like we do, and their confused faces are not the same either, but the face Caesar was making was a mix of confusion and wonder, so it looked a little funny on him, which made me giggle.

"I have never heard of that, can you show me?" A blush came over my cheeks at the thought of doing one of those dances for Caesar and I looked over at Ellie who had a knowing smirk on her face.

"Um… maybe some other time…" Caesar hummed at me and switched positions until he was laying down again.

 _I'm going to hold you to that._ Oh god, no. That would be the most embarrassing moment of my life, to do one of those styles of dances in front of the person I, according to Ellie, have fallen in love with… nope… gonna try to put that off as long as I can. Caesar motioned for me to come over to him, so I did and ended up cuddling with him again, lying on his chest the same way I had been before.

"I think they have the right idea, let's get some sleep." Malcolm stood up and Ellie and Alex took all of the bowls we used outside to wash and put back in the truck for the morning. It had gotten dark while we were talking, so it was easy for me to snuggle up to Caesar and start drifting off, but when a blanket was tossed over our bodies I hummed out a giggle and tightened my arms around Caesar before drifting off to sleep.

Some time in the middle of the night, I was stirred awake when Caesar started moving. I was sleepy but I opened my eyes to look at my leader.

"Hey, what's wrong? You okay?" Caesar smiled at me and I sat up to let him move more comfortably.

"I did not mean to wake you. I could not sleep, want to see something." I nodded my head and got up off the couch before helping him to stand up.

"You do not need to help me, you can stay here and rest." I smiled a tired smile and shook my head.

"I am fine, I want to help you." Caesar gave me a smile and we started moving towards the stairs in the hallway, careful to walk over Malcolm and the others and not disturb them. I helped Caesar up the stairs and when we reached the top he took me to the left and then pointed up at the entrance to the attic. I reached my hand up and grasped the cord hanging from the ceiling and pulled the staircase down until it touched the floor and assisted Caesar in moving up the stairs into the attic. Why were we going up here? When we reached the top of the stairs, we had to duck under rafters and weave our way through a bunch of household items before what appeared to be a room emerged in front of us. Caesar slowed down and on our right, there was an old piano sitting there and as he passed it Caesar pushed his fingers down on a couple keys that made quiet musical notes while he panted from the physical exhaustion. I smiled as I heard the sounds of the piano and watched as Caesar continued to move forward, running his fingers over a chain with a heavy ball on the end of to his left, and he looked over to a TV that had a camera sitting in front of it. Caesar slowly walked over to it, still panting, and picked it up to observe it. When it beeped and the screen turned blue, Caesar's face contorted into amazement and confusion before he unplugged the camera and walked over to sit on the bed in the center of the room. I followed him and sat next to him to observe. The screen continued to stay blue for a few seconds before it switched over to a video recording of the man from the picture downstairs and a young chimp sitting in front of him.

"Okay… Caesar, look." Realization dawned on me that I was looking at a recording of a toddler Caesar and I couldn't help but smile.

"Oh, my God. Caesar, you were so cute." Caesar ignored me and continued watching the video, a soft expression on his face.

"Apple. Apple. Good. Home. Home. Home. Yes." I looked over at Caesar when he exhaled and saw a huge smile on his face, and that just fills my heart with joy seeing that.

"This is your home. Your home. Good. Good. That's good." The younger version of Caesar in the video turned his head to look at the man and then leaned forward to give him a hug, and I smiled at that. He had someone who loved him, as a father would a son. The video cut out then and went back to the blue screen and I turned my head to watch Caesar. He watched the screen for a few more seconds, a nostalgic and soft look on his face before he closed the camera and turned to set it on the bed behind me. When he turned his body even more and looked towards the other side of the room I also turned to see Malcolm crouched by the attic entrance.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." For the first time, I didn't glare or growl at Malcolm for interrupting as he stood and started walking towards us, having to duck under a beam to do so.

"It's been two days. Your son is not back yet?" Caesar looked away from Malcolm and down at the floor without answering, and I looked at him with a sad look.

"Who was that? On the video?" I looked up at Malcolm and then over at Caesar as he turned his head part of the way towards Malcolm.

"A… good man. Like you." Caesar looked up at Malcolm now, and I felt a smile come to my face as I did as well until the sound of screeching and hooting came from outside. Caesar started to pant as he stood up and I followed him, holding onto his arm to support him. We walked over to the window and Caesar leaned against it while peering outside and when I looked past him I smiled at seeing Blue Eyes, Maurice, Rocket, Luca, and a group of apes behind them walking up to the house. Caesar gave his own smile before we turned and headed down out of the attic, down the stairs to the first floor, and out the front door. Blue Eyes and the others met us at the bottom of the stairs and when Caesar reached his son he put his hand on the side of his head, then greeted the other apes. Blue Eyes looked past Caesar at me and walked past his father to approach me, and when he got close enough he put his hand on the back of my neck and brought our foreheads together. I smiled at this and when we parted I looked down the stairs to Rocket who walked up to me, a pained and pissed expression on his face, and the smile fell from my lips; Blue Eyes must have told him the news about his son. I felt tears well up in my eyes as the father of my best friend advanced toward me.

 _Rocket… I'm so sorry…_ Rocket shook his head and as soon as he reached me he embraced me. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed a little as I buried my head in the crook of his neck. When he pulled back, he moved back down the stairs to stand next to Caesar who had his attention on his son.

 _Koba sent for the females and young. They're on their way. Mother too._ Caesar turned behind him to look towards Malcolm.

"Must go, now." A hard look crossed my features as we headed down the stairs and started trekking through the city towards the human's colony. I can't even imagine what Koba would do to Cornelia and the baby, would he do anything? To be honest, I don't even know anymore, but I tried not to think about it as we trudged through the streets until we reached a subway station and Malcolm took us below ground. Blue Eyes and I both stayed by Caesar's side as we half jogged half power walked towards Bart Station, the closest station to the tower, keeping our eyes on him and searching for any signs that he needed to stop and rest. Caesar continued to push on and ignored the pain in his shoulder; after having two days of rest he seemed to be getting his strength back rather quickly. It took us some time to get to our location, but when we did, Malcolm told us about an access tunnel below the tower that comes straight down to the subway. Well, that makes things easy, a little too easy. We were coming up on Bart station now, and the next stop would be the bottom of the tower.

"You okay?" Malcolm was speaking to Caesar, and the ape in question just huffed at him in response and we continued on our way until gunfire rattled and ricocheted through the tunnel. We all ducked immediately and quickly moved to our right to take cover at Bart Station. I looked around at the other apes to make sure no one was hit, and luckily we were all intact, so I turned back to look at Malcolm as he was crouched on the floor and turning his head to listen down the tunnel.

"Who's there? If you're human. you better say so!" Yup, too easy.

"It's me! It's Malcolm! Don't shoot!" When you trust someone, it is easy to forget the people they associate with, and I had to hold back a growl at remembering this. Malcolm turned to us now and started whispering.

"The stairs. Take the stairs. They will bring you out and up under the street, okay? Go." Caesar turned around to look at the stairs that Malcolm was pointing at, then turned back to the human and growled out his next words.

"Thank you." Malcolm smiled a little at this.

"Trust." The apes started to head for the stairs and when Malcolm looked over at me I gave him a two fingered salute with a smile and then followed my family up and out onto the street. When we emerged onto the street, it was still dark out, but there were fires everywhere, shell casings all over the ground, and bullet holes in the vehicles on the street, the walls, and even the pavement below our feet. I looked over at Blue Eyes as we started walking quickly towards the tower.

 _What happened here?_ Blue Eyes looked at the damage around him and then back at me with a sad expression.

 _War._ I huffed and gritted my teeth before looking at the top of the tower then back in front of my to follow Caesar and the others. We entered the tower, moving over all of the broken furniture and trash, and headed to the back of the room before we started climbing the tower itself. It was going to be a very long climb, and I knew this would be tough on Caesar's still recovering body, so I made sure he went first so that if anything happened, me or one of the other apes could react and catch him if he fell. The closer we got to the top, the harder his breathing became, and the louder the hooting and screeching would get. I kept my eyes on Caesar, completely ignoring the fact that I had the perfect opportunity to stare at his butt, and when he faltered slightly and stopped to start panting I readied myself to assist him.

"Caesar?" My tone was questioning and worried, but Caesar seemed to ignore it as he continued to climb, still panting and sounding out of breath. When we reached the top, apes were scattered all around the scaffolding and hooting loudly at what they saw. To them, Caesar was coming back from the dead because they had believed him to be killed by a human, when in reality, Koba had betrayed him, shot him, and led the apes to war in his memory. That is downright wrong. We helped Caesar up a little ways, but when both of his feet were planted firmly on concrete, he waved his hand at us and gripped at Luca's forearm as the gorilla removed his hand from our leader's shoulder. I watched Caesar with a close eye as he looked up and around at the apes he used to lead, then his eyes caught Koba, and I looked up to see the scarred and treacherous bonobo scaling down railing and scaffolds until he landed on a crane platform. I growled loudly and wanted to advance on Koba and rip him to shreds, but a hand on my shoulder and another on my lower back made me look to my left and right to see Blue Eyes and Rocket giving me a look that said 'control yourself'. This is Caesar's fight, not mine, I may want my piece of Koba, but so does Rocket and Blue Eyes, but this is something Caesar has to do. I huffed and looked ahead of me to see Caesar moving over the metal beams hundreds of feet in the air, and that is very unsettling. I let out an unintentional whimper when Koba jumped over the railing of the platform and started advancing towards Caesar before stopping a ways away from him.

"Caesar… has no place… here. Apes follow… Koba now." From where I was it appeared as if Caesar was looking around at the other apes, then his head turned back towards Koba.

"Follow… Koba… to war." Koba started moving again towards Caesar, a gun in his hand and pointed in the air, waving around randomly, Blue Eyes still had his hand on my shoulder, so on instinct, my left hand reached up and grabbed his to squeeze; the only thing I could do to control myself other than biting my lip, I wanted to jump forward and protect Caesar, I knew this was going to end in them fighting… and I don't want Caesar getting hurt again.

"Apes win war! Apes together strong!" That is one of the ape laws that is written all over the village, and now he chooses to care about them? Figures…. Koba was standing diagonally from Caesar now and had stopped moving.

"Caesar… weak." I growled at this and advanced a few steps forward until I was standing on the metal beams as well, Blue Eyes and Rocket trying to stop me, but failing. The only thing that stopped my growling and advancing was Caesar when he looked over his shoulder at me. I didn't look at him, just continued to glare at Koba who was ignoring my presence and keeping his gaze on Caesar, but I stopped nonetheless. Caesar turned back to the ape he was challenging and used his calm and level voice.

"Koba… weaker." A smirk came over my face at this and I let out an amused huff, this got Koba's attention this time and he looked over at me and growled before looking at the gun in his hand. For a second I thought he was going to just shoot Caesar, or even me, and I prepared my body to move to protect my leader, but when he gave out a roar and threw his gun away for favor of attacking Caesar head on I could feel relief flood my system. Caesar may have an injury, but he is incredibly intelligent and can out think Koba in a fist fight if he can't over power him. Instead of tackling Caesar, Koba just lunged forward and thrust both of his feet into Caesar's chest, sending him falling back to land on the lower beam support. I couldn't help myself when Koba jumped down to land on Caesar and I let out a hoot that sounded very much like an ape and crouched down on the beam to watch, ready to step in if I need to. I know this is Caesar's fight, and I can't intervene, but I will not let him die, I couldn't live with myself if I lost him. When Koba landed, he landed with Caesar's feet in his chest, so Caesar used his powerful thighs to push Koba off of him and back a couple feet, allowing him to stand again. Just as Caesar stood up Koba was already on his feet as well and brought his arms down on the one challenging him then he brought one arm up to backhand Caesar in the face. I growled and moved over the beam to get a better look, and by now all of the apes were hooting and screeching in the background. Koba continued to bring his arms down on Caesar, or use his fists to bash him in the jaw causing Caesar to back away from him until he was at the edge of the beam. I was about to call out to him to watch behind him, but it was too late as he rocked his body backward and used his left foot to grapple onto Koba's ankle and take him down with him. They both went tumbling down and landed on more scaffolding that collapsed under their weight. Koba landed on one of the upper ledges, and Caesar had landed below him on some metal sheeting. I moved from my spot again but this time went down a level to the lower beam supports where the fight had been previously and this time I was joined by Blue Eyes and the others. Blue Eyes started hooting to his father, triumph in his voice, but when Caesar got to his knees and looked up at his son he shook his head, this wasn't over yet. Blue Eyes and I both looked over to Koba as the attacker stood up slowly, put a hand to his side, and when he pulled it away his fingers were soaked in blood and he roared at seeing the crimson liquid. I gave out my own victory hoot that had an underline of amusement to it seeing Koba in pain. I don't know if that makes me a terrible person, enjoying seeing the ape who has caused so much pain in such a short time bleeding, but at the moment I didn't care. Caesar panted as he looked up at Koba, mild amusement also on his face before he saw the vicious ape he was fighting pick up a metal rod and glare down at him. Koba jumped down to attack Caesar again, and every time the rod would come down, Caesar would roll out of the way or jump to avoid it and he would continuously move farther from Koba, and this turned into a chase. Koba following after Caesar, huffing and growling in anger and frustration as Caesar kept avoiding getting hit, sometimes just barely. Me, Blue Eyes, Rocket and the others followed the fight through the railings, scaffolds, and metal beams that created this unfinished tower, sometimes having to swing from unstable works of construction to keep up or going up or even down a level to keep our eyes on them. I had just landed on a thick metal beam when I saw Caesar grab a pile of rubbish and turn to throw it in Koba's face and I gave out a shout of encouragement to my king as he continued to evade Koba, who was currently wiping at his eyes and growling. This gave Caesar an extra moment to pick up a thin and lite metal grate laying on the floor and hold it up as a defense to the abusive ape trying to kill him. I moved from my spot on the beam to a concrete pillar where Blue Eyes, Maurice, Rocket, and Luca had landed to watch the scene in front of us.

"Trusted Koba like brother." From where we were, their voices were audible, but low, and it was difficult to hear the hurt and deep growl under Caesar's words, but it was still there and shows how much the situation is affecting him.

"Caesar brother… to human!" With his last word, Koba brought the metal bar down on Caesar's shield and continued to swing at him as if he was a pinata.

"Koba… fight for ape! Free ape!" Koba's swings were hitting at the same spot now and were starting to rip at the metal grate like it was nothing, which is a terrifying thought about Koba's strength. By the third swing, the bar got lodged in the grate and was stuck and Caesar took this opportunity to growl at Koba over the grate.

"Kill ape. Koba fight for Koba." Ah, I see what he is doing, Caesar is intentionally pissing Koba off to make him sloppy and easy to read. Damn, he's smart! Like I said before, he is incredibly intelligent and that is going to be his strength and most likely Koba's downfall. Koba gave out a roar and brought his foot up to pound against the metal grate Caesar was using as a shield. The grate broke in half and one-half went flying away from the duo, the other was still gripped in Caesar's hands as Koba resumed pounding at him with the metal rod. Caesar saw how angry Koba had gotten and decided to taunt him even more as apes continued to hoot around them and watch the scene with excitement. I was excited, but more so in an anxious way as I was worried for Caesar.

"Koba… belong… in cage." The swing Koba gave after that knocked the metal grate from Caesar's hands, and he didn't seem to think twice about it as he kept his eyes on Koba, watching him. The enraged ape stopped for a second, marveling to himself for making Caesar defenseless and brought his hand back up to his side again, the gash there must be deep to be bothering him that much. I had noticed Caesar eyeballing it every now and then so he must have noticed as well because when Koba went to deliver what he thought would be the final blow, Caesar moved forward just as Koba's arms were in the air and used both of his powerful arms to thud into Koba's side where his fresh and still bleeding wound was. Koba gave a loud cry at that and stumbled back making us all hoot and cheer for Caesar. Koba swung at the other ape again, but this time Caesar jumped back and out of the way and looked behind him to grab a railing, pulling his body off the ground and catching Koba's next swing with his foot and then thrusting his leg forward so the rod slammed into Koba's side. Everyone around us was either hooting or screeching, some were jumping up and down, and when Koba stumbled back and shouted again, Blue Eyes and the others even hooted at Caesar in encouragement. A smirk had made its way to my lips now, and I crouched down at the edge of the platform we were standing on, almost as if I was on the edge of my seat watching an action thriller. Koba had dropped the metal rod after that last blow, and they were now circling each other, Caesar with his hands up looking like he was in a boxing match, ready for anything Koba was gonna throw at him next. Koba just went old fashioned again and brought his arms down on Caesar a few times, making the same mistake of leaving his side open when he brought his arms up, and again Caesar hurled his arms into Koba's side. This time, Koba stumbled back, hand on his side, panting, and had to grab onto the scaffold next to him for support. I watched Caesar as he started stumbling back as well, and getting dangerously close to the edge, he almost looked like he was gonna lose his balance or something and I stood up, ready to jump forward if I need to, but Caesar caught himself and squared his shoulders before advancing forward towards Koba who saw him coming and gave out a fierce yell before pulling the scaffold down towards Caesar. I felt my heart stop for a second when Caesar rolled out of the way and when the scaffold came down and made the floor collapse underneath them, they went tumbling out and down towards the bottom of the tower. Before falling too far, both Caesar and Koba grabbed chains hanging down from the crane above and the fight was taken to the air, sort of. Their momentum had them moving away from each other, but when they started swinging back to meet in the middle they clashed hard. They tried swinging their arms at each other the best they could while hanging hundreds of feet in the air and intertwined with each other. I was hoping for Koba to slip or something and this could all be over, but when an explosion sounded from below I looked down the shaft of the tower and saw a fire cloud billowing towards us. The tower rocked and moved in unnatural ways, scaffolds fell and crumbled, piping and beams bent and creaked as they were jolted loose. The large crane over our heads gave in to the bite of the explosion and started coming down on us in pieces. One piece caught the chains Caesar and Koba were dangling from and flung them in opposite directions and as I was about to jump to Caesar's side the creaking of bending metal made me look above me and just as the main part of the crane neck came crashing down on the platform me, Blue Eyes, and the others were perched on, we jumped out of the way. Some of us moved to different spots, others just hung off the concrete pillar as the crane slipped off of it and down into the shaft of the tower before lodging itself at an odd angle and getting stuck there. Dust and metal particles flew through the air, causing me to cough as I sat up from where I had landed on some metal plating. I had landed close to Caesar and moved over to him still coughing as I helped him up.

"Son of a bitch, where did that come from?" Caesar huffed and panted as I helped him stand up and he looked around at the damage. We took a few steps and the area we were currently standing on shifted and fell about a foot causing me to squeal. Distressed sounds of trapped and injured apes could be heard all around us, and Caesar looked over and huffed angrily before jumping down to another section of rubble. I followed him and as he went he helped one ape up from where he had fallen, moved to a body to check if they were alive, and when he moved away I knew we had lost one of our family, but when he noticed three apes trapped under a section of wall, I had little time to dwell on that fact and helped him pull the rubble away. We were having difficulty with it, and soon Blue Eyes came to our rescue. He landed to my left and grunted at his father before assisting us in moving the debris and freeing the apes. As the wall fell away and slid down the rest of the destroyed tower pieces and we started to help the apes stand up and move to a more stable area, bullets started whizzing by our heads and even penetrating the back of one of the apes we had just saved. The ape fell backward with a pained shout and continued to fall until we could see him no more. The gunfire was coming from below us and when we looked down we saw Koba roaring and pulling the trigger like a maniac. Caesar growled and turned to take cover, pushing me along with him as I had been behind him. We ducked our heads and avoided the bullets as we climbed into a higher position behind a metal tube and took shelter there. Caesar and Blue Eyes had their backs to the tube and I was crouched in front of them and when I looked over at Blue Eyes he moved from his position to a flat platform that seemed unaffected by the recent explosion. He picked up a bundle of what looked like rebar and threw the heavy mass down towards Koba. As soon as it impacted the ground in front of the insane primate it exploded and scattered in all different directions as Koba gave out a roar, jumped out of the way, then turned around and started firing in Blue Eyes' direction. I gave out a panicked yell when I saw Maurice and Rocket join Blue Eyes on the platform and dodge the bullets passing their bodies, but Maurice, my teacher, fell onto his side with a rumble. Blue Eyes and Rocket were there already, trying to get to Maurice and help him up, and I wanted to go to him as well, but bullets were still flying everywhere. When I heard a growl behind me I turned and saw rage on Caesar's face as he moved around our hiding place and ran over the debris with a loud humanlike roar as he jumped in the air and fell down on Koba. Now, this entire fight, Caesar has been on the defense for the most part, and this is the first time he has initiated the offense now that Koba was going after his friends and son. I peeked my head out and saw Caesar tackle Koba and they rolled once then separated, and it actually reminded me of when Koba had jumped and embedded a spear into the neck of the bear back in the woods last week. After they separated, Caesar continued to roll to the left to safety, but Koba rolled to the right off the scaffolding and was now dangling over the open shaft with hundreds of feet below him. As Koba tried to climb his way to safety, roaring, grunting, and growling while clutching his side every now and then, I exited my current position to jump down to where Caesar had landed. When I reached him I help him up with a hand under his arm and followed behind him as he approached Koba, looking down at him. Koba looked up and stopped climbing when he saw me and Caesar standing there, and for a second I saw fear in his eyes before an innocent look crossed his face, even with his teeth bared and a vicious look on his face, he still managed to look vulnerable.

"Ape… not kill… ape." I took a step forward until I was standing directly next to Caesar and glared down at Koba.

"I am not an ape, let me do it, Caesar… I would be more than happy…" Caesar, without looking at me, grunted which made me quiet down, the glare still present on my face as I continued looking at Koba. Caesar crouched down and wrapped his fingers around Koba's wrist and started pulling him up, I was about to protest saying it would be a mistake letting Koba live, but Caesar stopped and sighed a heavy breath making me look over at him in confusion. Caesar's eyes trailed up and around at the apes watching him then over where Blue Eyes and Rocket had helped Maurice up. The orangutan and old time friend of our leader was clutching at his right face flap indicating he had been hit by one of the bullets that flew from Koba's gun not five minutes ago. I growled seeing this and glared back down to Koba who continued to watch Caesar as he looked down at him and panted.

"You… are… not ape." Realization and fear crossed Koba's features again as Caesar's fingers released his wrist and he went plummeting down while screaming until the back of his shoulders connected with a cable draped across the opening to the shaft and he started spiraling head over heels before hitting another cable with his chest. Finally he landing on his back on the main section of the crane that had lodged itself on the walls of the shaft, and the impact from Koba's heavy body made the metal crane neck bend in on itself and start falling until it crashed into the ground at the bottom where we could not see it anymore, all the while we heard Koba's screams until he hit rock bottom and silence filled the air. Shock was written all over my features as I watched Caesar panting and looking at his apes, almost as if he was searching for approval that he had done the right thing. A hoot from Rocket started a chorus of more hoots and screeching, all cheering on and encouraging Caesar as he had just become our leader once again. Caesar sighed and looked over at a couple of his apes who were trying to get his attention and pointing down to the street where the females and young were approaching the tower. When Caesar turned to me I squared back my shoulders and stood up tall, which compared to Caesar did nothing since I'm five feet and he is five feet and three inches. Caesar looked down at me, a hard and strong look in his eyes, and put a hand on my shoulder. I gave him a nod and then followed him as we started descending the tower towards the courtyard of the building below us. I had not realized morning had come as the sun was coming up and it was much easier for me to see now so I was able to climb down without any issues and even kept up with the other apes.

As soon as we reached the bottom my eyes trailed over the fallen crane, searching, and hoping I would not find Koba's body. As I walked and climbed over the yellow painted metal, I ignored the thought that Koba, the ape who had started all of this, was dead and his body was buried in this rubble. Again, I stood up straight and approached Caesar as he landed on the ground in front of me. He was looking out over the courtyard where females and young were starting to greet their mates or fathers. He turned to look at me as I approached and before either of us could say anything angry screeching came from behind us and we both turned to see a group of apes wielding guns gathered around our human friend, Malcolm.

"Leave him!" Caesar's commanding voice caused me to flinch slightly and the apes to look over at him and then at Malcolm before slowly walking away from him to join the others in the courtyard. Malcolm looked at their backs wearily as they walked away and came nearer to Caesar before stopping directly in front of him with me behind him and to his left, watching the two of them.

"You're not safe here. They made contact. Other people are coming, soldiers." At that word, I cringed and growled under my breath, lovely, just when I thought this bull shit was over with….

"You have to leave now, everyone." Caesar slowly shook his head which I huffed at.

"Caesar, if you don't go, it'll be all-out war." A sad and drained look had crossed Caesar's face now.

"War… has already… begun. Ape... started war. And human… human… will not forgive. You must go before fighting begins. I am sorry… my friend."

"I thought we had a chance." I sighed and from where I was it was difficult to see, but it looked like a sad smile came over Caesar's lips.

"I did, too." After a moment of the two just looking at each other, Caesar moved slowly, his right arm coming up and his hand gripping the side of Malcolm's neck and pulling him forward and down a little. When their foreheads touched Caesar brought his other hand up and put it on the other side of Malcolm's neck. A warm smile came over my face now, this is what it looks like to earn trust, and it is magical. They stayed like that a second with their eyes closed, but when they pulled away Malcolm opened his eyes and sighed. Caesar turned without another word and started walking away, putting his hand on my shoulder as he passed and continuing on after that. I watched him go, then turned back to Malcolm to see him staring at me.

"You can come with us you know. We trust you, and we would treat you as family, as well." I gave Malcolm a warm smile and looked over at Caesar who had greeted his son and was now pulling his wife into a hug, a frightened, relieved and overwhelmed look on her face. I spoke my next words quietly while still watching the family I had grown to love.

"I appreciate that Malcolm, but Caesar saved my life, in more ways than one. My allegiance and loyalties lie with him and the apes." I looked back over at Malcolm now, who was watching me with interest.

"Tell that kid of yours to stay strong, he has a good heart, like his father. Don't ever let him forget it, and y'all take care of each other." Malcolm smiled and nodded and without another word he looked back towards Caesar and started backing away until he disappeared. I watched him go, and when I could no longer see him I turned back to Caesar and saw him turn around to look at where Malcolm had just been before he looked at me.

 _You're staying?_ I grinned at this.

 _Yes, you are stuck with me, for good._ Caesar nodded his head, too much has happened recently and has taken away his ability to smile which made me frown. I moved forward and stopped at the top of the stairs and watched Caesar start to descend them, his apes all starting to kneel in front of him and extending their hands asking for forgiveness for their actions in following Koba and going to war. Even Maurice, with blood coming down his face flap, and Rocket kneeled before Caesar. The scene was nearly silent and amazing to see as a courtyard filled with hundreds of apes all kneeling for Caesar and asking forgiveness, and Caesar was now our king, and he had their respect, and mine. When Caesar stopped on a landing and looked around at all of his apes, I felt pride swell in my chest, along with an animal instinct, and after a few seconds of trying to control it I gave in. What came out of my throat made me realize I have been around these apes for so long, that I am starting to become one of them. I stepped down a step with my right foot and roared so loudly it echoed off the walls and what I was not expecting was all of the apes to instantly jump up and roar back as if in response and this solidified my decision to stay with them, they now thought of me as one of their own, and I am never going to let this go.

A/N: Holy Mother of Long Chapters! Okay, so I don't remember why I made this chapter so long, but I did... and I think it had something to do with wanting to get to the end of the events of Dawn and just not having a spot in between where I felt comfortable stopping... I think... Oh well. This is the official end of the events of Dawn, and the next few chapters are going to be filler chapters because there are two years between Dawn and War so gonna go through a little of what happens with Kenai during that time. I will warn you now that we do start to get into the events of War soon, and if you have not seen it then SPOILER WARNING! Go see it, come back and then continue reading! Love y'all and please review so I know how I'm doing! Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	8. Chapter 8

One issue is over with and has been resolved, but now we have another to worry about. Soldiers are on their way from the north to kill us, and we have nowhere to go. War has officially begun. We were all still gathered in the courtyard of the tower and as the apes started to leave to go back to the forest I stepped down the stairs, past Caesar and his wife, and stopped in front of Blue Eyes and Rocket.

 _Blue Eyes, can you take me to Ash?_ Shock ran through his eyes before the blue orbs turned sad and he looked at Rocket who nodded and Blue Eyes turned to leave with me and Rocket following. We moved through the city, and ended up in a civil court building not far from the tower. When we got to the doors I stopped and looked behind me to see Caesar, Cornelia, Maurice, and Luca had followed us. Caesar gave me a protective look before nodding and we entered the building. Ignoring all of the trash and debris everywhere, as soon as we walked through the doors my eyes started wondering as Blue Eyes led us over to some stairs and around them to the right. When my eyes fell on the body of the ape we were looking for I felt my throat close up and clenched my fist down by my side as Rocket walked up to his son and kneeled next to him. He didn't touch him or say anything, he just stared at him with absolute rage and pain on his face. Ash was lying half on the floor and half on the stairs, no bullet wounds or blade wounds, but the floor under his head was covered in dried blood. Koba must have thrown him from the upper ledge. I couldn't help it as tears started falling from my eyes thinking how terrified Ash must have been when he fell and my knees buckled when I reached his side and I fell next to him.

"Oh, Ash, I'm so sorry." I put my hand under his head and pulled him up into my lap and his legs slid down the stairs and onto the floor as the tears continued to fall and started landing on his cheeks. He didn't flinch, his muscles didn't twitch at the cold salty moisture, and this made me grit my teeth as I put my forehead down and against his. He's gone, forever, and it felt like I was losing my brother all over again. I wanted him to just open his eyes and start laughing at me, revealing he was just fooling around like he had so many other times over the course of our friendship. He was a prankster, and he loved pulling pranks on me just to see the tortured look on my face and then would laugh as I chased him around afterwards, a huge, toothy, goofy grin on his face. I loved that grin, it was so him, and it reminded me of my little brother. The innocence, the curiosity, the adoration he had for Blue Eyes that he never let anyone see except me. I pulled my forehead away from Ash's and brought my lips up to kiss between his eyes. I pulled away again and looked down at him before looking up at the sound of a pained hoot. Walking towards us was a female ape, petite and short compared to the others, with almost fairy like features, small ears, and bright green eyes. Rocket reached out to her as she got closer and she too fell to her knees next to the lifeless body of her son.

"Tinker… I-I'm sorry…" I felt myself choke up as I saw Tinker start to tear up and salty water flowed down her cheeks as she reached her hand out to her son, her other clutching onto Rocket for stability. She hooted a few times as her fingers touched Ash's cold cheek and she recoiled instantly, folding herself into Rocket's arms.

"Why?" I growled as I looked up to Blue Eyes who was standing next to Caesar and his mother watching us with a sad and pained expression.

"Why did Koba do this?" Blue Eyes looked down to his friend then back up at me.

 _He refused to kill a human, against Koba's orders._ I looked down at Ash then and my features went soft. Damn it, Ash, why didn't you just listen… why did you have to try to be a hero. I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up at Rocket.

 _We need to go._ Rocket looked down at his son, and I could tell he wanted to break down, but he didn't let himself, he remained strong and hard, not letting anyone see that the death of his son has affected him greatly, but I knew better. I nodded my head slowly and gave one more look at my best friend before setting him down on the floor and standing up to walk past everyone and out of the building. Caesar stopped me as I walked by with a hand on my shoulder, but I didn't look at him, I just glared forward. I couldn't look at him, I don't blame him and it has nothing to do with him, I just don't think I could regain my composure again if I looked into the eyes of the one I loved more than anything. Caesar's hand slid off my shoulder as he realised I was pissed and didn't want to talk about it and I continued walking, glaring ahead of me, ready to leave this damned city.

As we headed out of the city and towards the woods again, we were all on foot, the horses having either died in the fight or ran off and disappeared. I had mentioned to Caesar that we should try to go back to the village and gather as much supplies as we could, but when I was told that Koba burnt the village to the ground, I instead suggested we salvage what we can. Caesar agreed and had the females and young stay in the woods with a group of hunters for protection, and Caesar, Rocket, Blue Eyes, Maurice, Luca, myself, and a small group of apes headed up the hill to the village. There wasn't much left when we got there, the barrier to the village had been burnt down completely, all that remained was a pile of ashes. Caesar's tree was still standing, but the hut had been destroyed and there was nothing left to save. My hut I had grown to call home was gone along with everything inside it. I stood at the door, or where the door used to be, picked up a small log half eaten by flames, and just stared blankly at the charred wood piled in front of me and my other hand absentmindedly brushed over my satchel on my hip where my pictures were. I don't know how long I stood there, but the sun was starting to get low when a hand landed on my shoulder making me look over at Caesar.

 _Time to go._ I looked back at my home, now long gone, lifted the log to glare at it, then threw it on the ground before we walked away from our village, our home, forever, with nothing but a few spears and a longing to time travel back to better times.

We wandered the woods for weeks, sleeping wherever we could, finding what ever food we could eat. Staying warm was easy for the apes, but had become a difficulty for me. Hunting was starting to get more and more sparse now that the wildlife's habits and cycles were messed up. Not only had animals scattered when our village had been set aflame but we were always in new areas and did not know the moving and eating habits of the animals in the area so we could not predict where they would be. This proved a problem not just for food, but for materials and even warmth.

Animal skins were very useful in creating clothes for me when I needed them, so whenever a kill happened, the skin was immediately given to the female apes to sun bleach and dry it and turn it into either a blanket or what they were currently working on was a shoulder throw made out of beaver hides. Beavers were easy to hunt because they stayed near their dam, but they were so small it took many of them just to feed 15 of us and make a blanket for me. The shoulder throw they were currently constructing had a kind of beauty about it. I told the apes not to worry about making it look good, but Lake, who I have grown pretty close to, and in turn she and Blue Eyes have grown close as well, insisted on making the garment look nice. Sometimes I swear that woman is a human fashionista in an ape's body. Every time I would check up on Lake and her girls to see how the throw was coming, it would look more and more like a wearable object and I would be lying if I didn't say I was excited. The throw only needed maybe four beaver hides before it was complete, and when it was Lake brought it to me while we were camped out at the bottom of a rocky cliff.

I was sitting with my back leaned against the rocks, a fire burning hot and bright in front of me, Caesar and Cornelia to my left, Blue Eyes and his brother, who has gained the name Cornelius, to my right, and Maurice across the fire from me. Lake walked around the fire, passing Blue Eyes in the process and giving him a smile as she did so, and stopped in front of me before handing me the bundle of beaver fur. I stared at it with my eyes wide and a grin quickly came across my face as I took my new article of clothing. Beaver fur is very fluffy and warm and holds up against moisture very well and the way Lake had created it, it would protect my shoulders, my upper arms, and my back. I stood up with the hide in hand and threw it over my shoulders, giggling when warmth circled around my body. The front of it came down and over my boobs, clasping with two holes on the right side and two buttons made from small bones, most likely from the beavers, on the left side. The sides dropped down over my shoulders and stopped at my elbows, the back of it laid over my back and stopped just passed my butt where it squared off at the ends. I turned my head and observed the way it looked and felt with the grin still on my face and a giggle coming from my lips. I turned back to Lake and gave her a huge hug.

"I love it! It's so warm and fluffy! Thank you very much, Lake, y'all didn't need to do this for me." Lake waved her hand at me and the look that came over her face contorted her features in a scrunched up kind of way, a way that apes usually can't do with their facial muscles but Lake seemed to pull off and still look pretty doing it.

 _We don't need you freezing. We would all be very upset if that happened, especially if it was because of your stubbornness._ I rolled my eyes and Lake smiled at me before walking over to sit next to Blue Eyes and play with Cornelius a little. The grin returned to my lips as I sat down and snuggled with my new garment, and I guess I can call it a cloak. That thought made me giggle a little bit, I'm wearing a cloak, does that make me a superhero? I giggled again and looked up to see everyone giving me weird looks like I was crazy or something. I shook my head at them and looked into the fire, ignoring them and enjoying having something to keep me warm. Now we just need to do something about the torn and tattered khakis I'm still wearing.

About a week or two after the fight in San Francisco when we lost Koba, Ash, and quite a few other apes, Tinker, Ash's mother, came down sick. It was similar to what had happened to Cornelia only it progressed much quicker, and was most likely caused by the stress and heartache of losing her son. Rocket was not happy about this, first he lost Ash, and now he is losing Tinker. With Rocket being one of the higher up apes of the council, Tinker got the best care possible, and the colony was moved around as little as possible to make sure there wasn't added stress to her condition. One long week after Tinker became sick, she fell asleep one night and did not wake up the next morning and there was a ceremony for her that day where we went to the river and sent her body down the rapids while Rocket held a torch in her memory and the memory of their son. I wish there was something I could do for Rocket, comfort him or something, but every time I tried he would get angry with me and stomp away growling under his breath. That was two weeks ago, and he hasn't said or signed a single word to anyone, and everyone left him alone to deal with his emotions.

It has been four weeks since San Francisco now, we still haven't found a new place to call home, and we haven't seen another human since Malcolm had disappeared into the subway. Many of the members of the colony were skeptical that there was even soldiers after us, and I even had my doubts to be honest, because it doesn't take four weeks to travel from the north, and we weren't exactly being stealthy when we camped out, which was a huge mistake and we learned our lesson the hard way.

It was early in the morning when it happened, the first attack. We had camped at a location closer to our old village, thinking that if we weren't actually being hunted and Malcolm had just been misinformed, then maybe we can move back into our home and start to rebuild. Boy, were we wrong. Camping so close to our old home gave the soldiers the opportunity to find us easily, especially when we started fires to begin cooking what little meat we were going to catch that day. The sound of a loud screech and gunfire was our first indication we were under attack, the second was the smoke that started filtering into the area from smoke grenades being launched from nearby roughage. The first thing I did was reach for my spear I had been working on for the last couple weeks and followed Blue Eyes to find Caesar. He and Cornelia had gone to bed early with baby Cornelius and me and Blue Eyes had decided to stay by the fire for a little extra time. I stayed next to Blue Eyes' side, moving through bushes, dodging bullets, and when a frag grenade landed in front of us, Blue Eyes screeched and turned around to tackle me. We went rolling down an embankment and our momentum was halted when Blue Eyes' back slammed into a fallen tree. He cried out at this and growled when he let me go.

"Blue Eyes, are you okay?!" He nodded slowly and stiffly as I helped him to his feet and we started moving around the embankment and came up the shallow hill, ducking to the ground when we got to the top. Apes were running everywhere, bullets were flying but I couldn't tell where they were coming from, they seemed to come from everywhere but nowhere at the same time.

"Lake!" My shout got Blue Eyes' attention and he looked over where I was pointing to see Lake huddled by a tree with two or three younglings encircled in her arms. Blue Eyes growled loudly and gave a roar before jumping up and running over to her. When he reached her, he ducked and rolled out of the way of a few bullets and from the bushes to his left, a human geared up in Army greens and a bullet proof vest charged from the greenery and held a large combat knife above his head while shouting,

"I'm gonna kill every last one of you stupid monkeys!" I growled and lunged from my position and started charging the human while on all fours, and since I had such short legs, my knees and arms did not interfere with each other, allowing me to propel myself forward at a fast pace. The spear in my right hand did make it a little difficult but when I got close enough I gave out a roar and jumped through the air to skewer the soldier with my spear. The tip of the weapon entered his upper right collarbone and down into his chest and we rolled until we came to a halt with me standing on his chest and growling down at him.

"They're apes, not monkeys, you illiterate piece of shit." Blood spurted from the man's mouth and down his cheeks and neck as surprise was in his eyes before all color and life drained from them. I continued to glare down at him before I realized what I had just done. I killed someone… I've never... . I wanted to feel fear towards myself, or pain, or something, but all I felt was more rage as I ripped my spear from the fallen soldier's body and looked over at Blue Eyes and Lake. They had wide eyes, in either fear or surprise I couldn't tell, but as soon as I grunted at them they gathered up the three children Lake had been protecting and started running up a nearby hill, hopefully to safety. I did not follow them, instead I turned my head to try and find more soldiers who were still firing off their guns. Most of the colony had booked it up the hill behind me and away from the ambush as soon as it had started, but there was still a few stranglers and when I moved around a large tree I could see Caesar and Rocket pushing a group of apes away from the gunfire and towards the only place the soldiers didn't seem to be. I sighed in relief when I saw Caesar alive and intact before fear gripped at my heart when I saw a soldier creep out from behind a tree with a pistol pointed at the back of Caesar's head. The gunfire slowly died down, and I could see that they were trying to turn to a tactical and stealthy approach, but I was not going to let them get to my leader. I charged forward at full speed, lept over a fallen tree, and up a rock before stopping at the top and throwing my spear straight into my target. Caesar saw the spear from the corner of his eye and turned his head to follow its trajectory through the bulletproof vest and into the heart of the human trying to sneak up on him. Caesar's eyes went wide and he turned to look at me as I glared down in the direction of the human and jumped from the rock to run over to Caesar.

"We have to get out of here, most of the colony has gotten over that hill and to safety." Caesar nodded and we continued to assist the small group of apes that had been left behind. The avalanche of bullets had stopped, but now there was shouting behind us and the occasional bullet would whiz past our heads or embed into a tree we had just run past. They were following us, trying to push us north, and we had no other choice but to do just that.

"We need to get into the trees!" I turned my head to Caesar and Rocket after ducking from another bullet flying by my ear. They both nodded and we quickly scaled the closest tree and started jumping to other branches and advancing up at a diagonal direction. We leapt from tree to tree for several minutes before we started seeing apes on the ground and in the trees ahead of us. We had caught up to the rest of the colony and gained ground on the humans!

"Caesar, you get to the front of the group and lead, me and Rocket will bring up the rear to watch for stragglers." Caesar gave a grunt of acknowledgement before increasing his speed and me and Rocket jumped down to the forest floor behind the colony as they advanced forward. I stopped and turned to search behind me for anyone that may have been left behind, but I didn't see any apes, all I saw was… oh shit, that's a human! I growled and jumped to my right as a bullet landed in the tree to the left of my head and I saw more humans headed this way. From where I was I could see maybe 15 or 20 soldiers, and more kept popping up. Without giving them a chance to get closer I turned and started sprinting with Rocket quadrapeding next to me at a near full run. We could still see the tail end of the colony ahead of us and continued to scan the forest around us for any fallen apes, but after a good while of running I could see we were coming up on a clearing. All of the apes on the ground had started taking to the trees and me and Rocket followed after the last ape had left the ground. The closer we got the better I could see the clearing and I saw that there was a river and a waterfall in the clearing, but I also saw that apes were jumping from the higher tree branches across the clearing and grabbing hold of the branches on the other side. Well, son of a bitch… I've never done anything quite that extreme when it came to my tree climbing, especially with such a large gap, so this was gonna be a test for me… I saw Rocket look at me from my peripheral vision but chose to ignore him as I climbed higher in the trees and tried jumping faster to get as much velocity as I could, so when we reached the edge of the clearing I used all of my strength and channeled it into my legs before landing on a branch and leaning forward and pushing off with such force I could have sworn I heard the branch crack and snap. I had no time to think about that as I focused on the trees coming up in front of me. God I hope I'm gonna make it! When I started to fall through the air and towards the river I gave out a shout of fear before I saw that the shore line was getting closer then the water was. I may not make it to another tree branch, but I might make it to land! Oh, this is gonna hurt…

"Fuck!" I cried out when my feet landed on the ground and I rolled a few times over rocks and twigs as they punctured my skin and the cuts stung as dirt filled the wounds. I think I rolled a total of seven times before finally stopping at the base of a tree with my back on the ground, one leg vertically up the tree and my other laying on the ground next to the trunk. I felt like some cartoon character for a second as I looked at my leg that was against the tree and huffed at it before Rocket came into my view with a grin on his face. I growled at him but cherished seeing him smiling, not sure when I would see it again.

"Fuck you, Rocket." The ape helped me up and I cried out at the pain in my muscles, joints, and the stinging of the cuts all over my body before turning and glaring out over the heavy rapids of the river. The soldiers had stopped at the water's edge and didn't dare to cross with how quickly the river was moving and the water was falling over the edge of the cliff and I huffed before turning and starting to limp away, having to put my arm around Rocket's shoulders to be able to walk upright. We may have gotten away, but this was not a victory for us, it was a victory for the soldiers. They successfully ambushed us, lord only knows how many of us they killed, and they chased us off and farther north than we have ever been. I was able to take down two soldiers, and didn't know if anyone else was able to take any out, but that will not make up for the numbers we undoubtedly lost.

It took me and Rocket quite some time to catch up to Caesar and the rest of the colony, but when we had we found them resting while surrounding a large boulder where Caesar, Cornelia, Cornelius, Blue Eyes, and Lake sat on the smooth surface of the rock. As I limped through the ranks of the colony with the help of Rocket, apes were hooting at me in concern and a few that I had assisted in removing from the blanket of gunfire would come up to me and give me hoots of thanks and I would just give them a smile before they walked off. When we reached the boulder and Caesar caught sight of us he stood up with concern on his face and jumped down from the rock and came to my opposite side from where Rocket was and put my other arm around his shoulder before assisting me to a smaller rock at the base of his perch where I sat down with a hiss.

"What happened, are you alright?" Caesar looked up at Rocket who just gave him a smug look, which confused the leader as he looked down at me. I gave him a small smile and shook my head.

"I'm fine, just didn't make it all the way across that gap in the trees. Missed the branches and ended up rolling over the forest floor." Caesar huffed in mild annoyance and put a hand on my shoulder before waving Lake over to us. She jumped down from the rock and came over to me with Blue Eyes following her. After she had been in the middle of the gunfire and Blue Eyes came to her side, it doesn't seem like he wants to leave her now. I gave him a small knowing smile when they approached and let Lake look over the cuts and purple and black bruises that were starting to form on my skin. One rather large one which I know will feel wonderful in the morning was on my right hip. Every time Lake's finger's brushed over that area I could feel how tender my flesh had become. My shoulders, upper arms, and back were well protected by my beaver skin cloak, so I only had a couple minor scrapes there, but my face felt like a cat's scratching post and I knew I had some new scars on my cheeks and around my left eye started to feel a little sticky. Wonderful, I need a bath… After Lake had come over to check me out, Rocket and Caesar had stepped away from me to discuss the damage and what they were gonna do, and this was the first time I have seen Rocket say anything since his wife's death.

 _So far we have counted twenty missing, but we are still checking with some families. We haven't lost any children, but we have children who have lost their parents._ Rocket sighed at this, and pain gripped at my heart when I remembered the three younglings Lake had in her arms when we found her.

 _Back at the waterfall, I saw something at the bottom of the cliff, I would like to check it out. It looked to be man made._ Caesar gave a nod to his friend.

"You can take a small group with you in the morning, we need to rest tonight."

"Caesar?" Our leader looked over at me and I gave him a sad look even though I had my arm almost over my head because Lake was holding it there while looking at my side so I probably looked ridiculous.

"They might try to find a place to cross the river before night fall. They seemed pretty determined to kill us. We need to find a place to hide, tonight. Let me go with Rocket, just me and him. We can be a lot more stealthy just the two of us then a group." Caesar huffed and shook his head.

 _Not in your condition._ I gave Rocket a hard look before taking a deep breath and standing up, pushing Lake's hands away from my body to do so.

"I'm fine, see? We need a place to hide, as soon as possible. We have injured and children that need tending to." Caesar sighed and put his head down with his eyes closed, thinking, before he gave a slow nod. Rocket gave out a huff, but moved past me and headed back the way we had come. I gave Caesar a quick nod of thanks before turning and jogging after Rocket, ignoring the pain shooting through my body. Some exercise will be good for me, will keep most of the pain away while my body tries to repair itself, and will make the pain in the morning that much less.

The closer we got to the river, the louder the sound of the rapids became and the more our movements were muffled. Rocket moved in front of me, and I stayed directly behind him as we moved around trees and over rocks until the clearing came into view. The sound of the river was loud now, and it drowned out pretty much everything, but over it we could head faint voices. They were deep, and we couldn't hear what they were saying, so we moved closer, hiding behind trees and ducking next to large rocks as we peaked out and across the river. On the other side we could see a small group of soldiers, only five of them. I know we were attacked by way more than that, so the rest must have turned back or headed west up the river to find somewhere to cross. When we stopped to watch what the soldiers would do, Rocket had crouched behind a rock, and I had chosen a tree as my hiding spot, so I looked over at the ape and gave a low grunt to get his attention.

 _Should we wait for them to leave?_ Rocket looked back over at the humans and watched them for a minute, and when they didn't look like they were gonna move he turned his head back to me.

 _That could take a while. We will double back about one hundred feet and then head east. Try to find a safe place to climb down the cliffs out of sight._ I nodded and crouched to follow Rocket north and then east once we could no longer see the soldiers on the other side of the river. Instead of finding more cliffs like the waterfall and the rocks around the waterfall, we found a steep hill down to the lower levels of the river and we scaled down it until we reached flat land. Going back south was a little more difficult as we started to run into large, sharp, and jagged rocks that we had to climb over just to get to the river and when we did, we hid behind a lone tree growing through the cracks in the boulders. Rocket looked around the tree and up to the upper ledge and from where he was he could not see the humans, so he looked around the scenery at the bottom of the waterfall and then back at me before pointing past the tree. I moved forward and to the left of the tree and looked across the river to where Rocket was pointing at. On the other side of the rapids there was a human made walkway that exited a concrete tunnel. From where I was I could not tell what was on the other side of the tunnel, but the walkway went through the cliffside and continued up to the side of the waterfall.

 _I wonder where that leads to._ Rocket gave me a small grin and walked away from the tree and around me.

 _We are about to find out._ As we moved along the north side of the river, we continuously looked up to make sure we couldn't see the humans, cause if we can't see them, they can't see us. We had to go probably half a mile down the river to find a place to cross, and when we did, it was a large tree that had fallen to lay overtop the water, but close enough to it for it to get soaked to its core, most likely making it slippery. Rocket and I stopped at the base of the tree where it had been uprooted from the ground and Rocket climbed up the roots then turned and helped me up.

 _You go first._ Rocket gave me a weird look.

 _What, are you scared?_ I rolled my eyes at him and pointed to the water.

 _You can't swim, and if you slip or something I want to be able to grab you if I need to._ Rocket scoffed at me, almost as if he was offended that I said he couldn't swim even though he knew it to be true. Chimpanzees physically can not swim, their center of gravity is too high on their chests and they literally just sink when immersed in too much water. I shook my head at him as he turned and got down on all fours to start moving over the river and I followed him by getting down on my knuckles as well. Quadrapeding was painful for a human because we do not have thick layers of skin protecting our knuckles, so I need to find a way to fix this little problem. The tree was large enough in diameter that when we walked in the middle, there was still room on either side of us, but the wood was soaked in water and covered in moss and algae which made it slick. So one wrong move and either of us could go tumbling into the harsh moving hydrogen dioxide below us, but we made it to the other side with no issues which made Rocket turn and huff at me like a child would to their over protective parent. I stuck my tongue out at him and followed him up the rocky hill to a road, and when we reached the edge of it we stopped and peered over the top to observe around us. We didn't see anyone or anything moving. The only sounds we could hear was from the water behind us, so we moved up the hill the rest of the way and onto the flat surface of the road. I continued to stay on all fours as I followed Rocket at a trot heading west down the road towards the waterfall. When we reached the first tunnel made of concrete we slowed down and walked through it, observing the graffiti on the walls and the moss growing over the railings. The passageway was narrow and even more so when we exited the tunnel onto the walkway we saw from across the river so we moved in a single file line over the walkway, observing everything around us and watching for any signs of humans. We came up on another tunnel, this one much shorter and formed out of the rocky cliff side, and when we reached the other side we saw the road continue into a dark cave. Cautiously we entered the pitch black before Rocket stopped and we had to move back out because we couldn't see. Starting a ground fire would be dangerous because the smoke could alert the soldiers to where we were, so we had to light a torch without creating too much smoke. Rocket found two rocks that would suffice for starting a fire, and I grabbed a short but thick stick from the side of the road and grabbed a handful of dead leaves lying next to my feet. Instead of lighting the torch outside where we could see what we were doing, we went back into the mouth of the cave and Rocket started striking the two rocks together over the leaves before sparks flew and they caught fire quickly. Doing this in the cave, even though we couldn't see, would insure that whatever smoke was created by our actions would thin out enough by the time it reached outside that it wouldn't be visible, and as soon as the end of the stick had caught fire Rocket stomped out the dead leaves and we turned to continue our trek into the darkness. Now that we had light, we could see where we were going, and for about one hundred feet it continued as flat ground but then started getting rocky, and we had to climb over smooth surfaces of rocks and through a few caverns before the waterfall came into view around one corner. We followed the path behind the waterfall and jumped up a ledge and then up another. What I was seeing was absolutely incredible. To our right there was a mini waterfall behind the large on blocking us from the eyes of the outside world, and when we jumped up the second ledge, Rocket having to help me out a little because it was a little higher, we looked around what was a large cavern big enough to house the entire colony and then some. I looked around the cavern in wonder and then over at Rocket who also had a wide eyed and amazed look on his face.

 _This is beautiful and would be perfect for hiding the colony._ Rocket nodded and then pointed up at a passageway at the top of the cavern.

 _It looks like there are passageways through the rocks, these caverns are bigger than what we see here. This would not just make a good hiding spot, but a good home as well._ I grinned at this thought and couldn't wait to get back to Caesar, tell him the news, and bring the colony down here. Finally, some good luck.

A/N: Okay, so this chapter is much shorter, thank god! There are a few things that happened in this chapter that I had not originally intended on happening, like the appearance and death of Tinker, Ash's mother. There is an ape in Dawn when Caesar enters his hut while Cornelia is sick and an ape hoots at him while sitting next to Cornelia, some people think that is Tinker, but no one knows for sure. So, I derived my image of Tinker based off that ape with a couple changes like smaller ears and brighter eyes. This chapter fills in a few blanks and answers a few questions that I had when I saw War for the first time like how did they find their home under the waterfall, what was their first encounter with the soldiers like, when did it happen, was it immediate or was there time in between? Did they try to go home and live there first or did they go straight to the woods? Stuff like that, anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! I am very excited for how far Kenai has come and I hope you are as well! Review and let me know what you think! Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	9. Chapter 9

After Rocket and I had found the caverns behind the waterfall we went back to Caesar, gave him the news, and we moved the colony to the east, down south to cross the river, and then back west just as Rocket and I had done to avoid detection. We were able to avoid them easily, and the entire colony fits in the main cavern with little difficulty. It took time before we were settled down, at first we hoped this could become our permanent home where we would be hidden from the humans forever, and we tried not to get too comfortable just in case they did find us, but after three months of being in the same spot without sight of the soldiers anywhere near us we rested a little better at night and started building structures.

First, we worked on the main cavern, creating walkways from the lower levels up to the upper passageways and this allowed us to explore our new home more. We found multiple rooms off the passageways where council members and their families ended up sleeping, and at the very top above the main cavern, there was a ledge that was so close to the waterfall you could reach out and touch the running water. That is where Caesar built his nest with Cornelia and his two sons. Down the pathway from where he and his family rested I had my own nest, built for a single person and fashioned more like a bed. After being there for three months we had learned the animal's movements in the forest and our hunters were back up to par. After a full year, we had completely settled in, classes started up again with Maurice and even Lake started teaching some younglings and taking care of ones who lost their mothers in the first attack and their fathers had to go hunting.

Though we saw little signs of activity close to our home, the soldiers were all over the north, having seen us go north of the river, they thought that is where we would be. So, to continue that illusion we sent out small parties to build empty camps but make them look livable and habited. They would build them in the trees, on the ground, in easily visible caves, and places where it was not smart to have a camp. This gave the humans the thought that we are not as smart as we really are which gave us the advantage. This was Maurice's idea, and it worked very well, but after the soldiers started moving past the camps and further south, or started to go around down towards San Francisco again, I sat down with Caesar and the council and brought up the idea of trenches. They did not know much about the history of war, but they caught on quickly and Caesar approved the project. We would build five trenches, creating a star pattern around our new home, just in case any humans came too close, we had some kind of defenses that were not in the direct vicinity of the colony.

So much has changed for me in the last year since the Koba fiasco, and I have changed as well. I still wear the bearskin shirt Caesar had given me, and I still have the beaver cloak Lake made me, but I sat down with Lake and learned how she had made it and my new beaver skin blanket as well. She taught me how to skin the animal, clean the hide, dry it out and sun bleach it, then she showed me her techniques for turning the hides into clothing. I used these new skills to get rid of my torn up khakis that I have been wearing for the past ten years and made myself a pair of skin tight knee length shorts out of the hide of a deer. This one was plucked of fur so it was just the skin and was a lighter color than the bearskin shirt I still wore. On top of that, when we went out on a hunting trip, I had run into another bear and took it down with help from the rest of the hunting party. So, I had put this hide to use as well, but instead of plucking the fur like my shirt, I kept the fur and created a hip wrap out of it. I used similar clasps to what my cloak has, two holes on one side with two buttons made of bone on the other, and it wraps around my hip, clasps on my left just above my hip bone, and slants down my right leg and stops just below my knee. This shows off my left leg where I still had my leather satchel with my pictures in it, but on the underside of it I attached a small wooden sheath that held a handmade stone blade that Rocket helped me make. My boots and socks were discarded a long time ago, I had thrown them in the river and now walk around barefoot. The hard gravel and sharp rocks are still cutting into my feet but I have started to get used to it, but when I quadruped with the other apes, my knuckles just will not strengthen, so I recently came up with an idea to fix that, and I need a strong animal hide, soft moss or fur, and some small rocks or hard bark.

I fashioned myself a pair of gloves out of the hide of a turtle I found on the shores at Muir beach, Caesar was not happy to find out I went down there by myself, let me tell you that! He actually grounded me, like a child, to stay in the colony for a couple weeks. I wasn't allowed to go hunting or anything, which Blue Eyes was upset about because we had become hunting partners and he never went hunting without me and vice versa. Lake was actually happy about that though because those two had become a mated pair and this means they could spend more time together, so when I went to Lake to ask for materials she had no problem gathering them for me while I was grounded. I had to try a few different things before I finally found a combination that held up, I kept the turtle hide because of its strength, but I needed protection over my knuckles, so I tried using nut shell since they have natural curves to them. I packed the inside with moss and bits of fur so it was soft on my knuckles, but as soon as I put my knuckles on the ground and put pressure on them the nut shells would crack and shatter. After that, I tried pieces of bark, and those just split in half, so I used wood from the middle of a black oak tree which is incredibly strong so it took a lot of working at it to shape them. This time they held up quite well for a week or so, but they wore down too quickly, and when I was about ready to give up, Rocket came to me, having found out what I was doing by interrogating Lake and Blue Eyes and suggested carving some rocks like we had done with my knife. I had no other ideas so I listened to Rocket and let him help me break down a rock into smaller pieces and carve them to fit over my knuckles while they were straight and bent for quadrapeding. It took a while because it was delicate work, but we were able to construct a working pair of quadrapeding gloves for me made of turtle hide, rocks over my knuckles packed with moss and fur and held on by thin leather straps.

After Caesar finally let me leave the colony again, he made sure I was escorted by Blue Eyes and he even sent Rocket out with us, which I thought was overkill but whatever. I had a pout on my face the whole time we were walking from the colony and through the forest, causing Blue Eyes to grin at me every time he looked behind him, and every time I turned around to look at Rocket, the meany face would point at his eyes and then point at me saying he was watching me, but he had a smile on his face. I finally stuck my tongue out at him and turned away to climb a tree to get a bird's eye view of our surroundings. Blue Eyes and Rocket followed me and Blue Eyes clamored onto the branch I had stopped to crouch on and he looked over at me, seeing an unsettled look on my face.

 _Kenai, what's wrong?_ I observed the forest floor below us and the trees in front of us before looking at the two apes that were with me and pointed up, indicating we needed to go higher. The two followed me and this time Rocket came to my side, confused but ready for anything.

 _Something doesn't feel right, I have a very uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach._ Rocket turned now to look where I had been staring at and we stopped to listen, not making a sound or moving a muscle. Birds were chirping and frogs were croaking, but after a few minutes that all stopped. Animals went silent, raindrops that had been falling before ceased to land on our noses now, and the usual heartbeat of the forest halted. Something was disturbing the animals and the forest, something big. We were quite a ways away from the colony now, but curiosity started to get the better of me and I started jumping from tree to tree, swiftly and silently, Rocket and Blue Eyes close on my heels. We moved about half a mile north before we found what the commotion was all about. The loud sounds of machinery and the cracking of forest trees filled our ears as we snuck closer to what was causing it. Bulldozers and military tanks by the dozens were lined up on an old dirt road that now led nowhere. We were high enough in the trees that no one would see us, but as we looked down on a group of soldiers operating these vile machines and using them to tear down the trees, anger filled my veins.

 _They are going to tear down the entire forest just to find us._ Rocket huffed and Blue Eyes growled as I grunted and jumped to a branch in front of me and to the right. This gave me a different vantage point and I could see around a large tree where they had a fire pit and next to it, tied to a fallen tree, seven horses completely tacked up and ready to go. There was five pitch black ones, one that was black with a white star on its forehead, and a pure white one. I looked back over at Rocket and Blue Eyes and smirked at them.

 _They have horses, seven of them. We are gonna steal them._ Rocket shook his head at me and huffed.

 _If we get too close they will see us, we do not have any backup. We should go back to the colony and report to Caesar what we have found._

 _Rocket, these tanks are headed south towards the colony, by the time we get back and tell the others they could already be there too and be knocking down our doors! The trenches are strong but will not hold up against tank fire! We have to do something now, and we need those horses more than these dumb humans do!_ Rocket growled lowly, but loud enough for me to hear his discomfort with this idea.

 _We will circle around to the horses, they are tied to a downed tree large enough to hide us from view if we stay behind it._ Rocket took a second before he nodded and without looking at me he started swinging towards our destination, me and Blue Eyes following him. We were careful to be quiet and stay out of sight when we reached the forest floor and approached the tied up horses, and now hiding behind the tree, I peeked up and over it coming face to nose with the black horse who had a white star on his forehead. He paid me no mind and ignored me as I looked around him to see if anyone was there. The area around the fire pit was empty, but I could see a couple soldiers on the other side of the road standing next to a tank. They were just standing there, talking, and when one of them punched another in the arm and started laughing I could see they were telling jokes and wasting time, as usual. I rolled my eyes and continued to watch them as they started walking around the tank and then disappeared after that.

 _It's now or never._ The three of us stood up and started untying the horses one by one. I took the reins of the black one with the star and the reins of two others. Blue Eyes and Rocket each took the reins to two of them, which came to a total of seven. I looked around us as the two apes slowly mounted and crouched down almost hugging the necks of the horses to stay out of sight, but before I mounted I noticed a military crate sitting a good ways from the fire. I moved over to it, the horses having to follow, and opened the crate before growling at what I saw. Explosives, mainly C4, but sitting on top of the C4 blocks was three grenade belts. A very crazy, and very stupid idea came to my mind and I closed the crate to turn back to the others who were watching me with anxiety on their face, knowing they would get caught if I continued to linger. I walked up to them and handed them each the reins to a horse but keeping the one with the star for myself.

 _Get out of here, I have one more thing I wanna do._ Rocket looked at the reins I had just given him, then at the crate, and the tanks before back at me.

 _No, you're crazy! They will kill you before you can do anything!_ I shook my head and smiled at Rocket.

 _Rocket, something has to be done. Go, I'll be right behind you, I promise._ Rocket growled at me but he and Blue Eyes reluctantly started to trot away with our prizes. I watched them go for a couple seconds before turning back to the crate, walking over and opening it to grab the grenade belts. I mounted my new horse and took off into the woods before circling back around to come up on the rear of the line of tanks and bulldozers. I came at them at a gallop, and as soon as I passed the first three soldiers, who were completely dumbfounded and shocked to see me ride by on their horse, I pulled the pin on the first grenade belt and tossed it onto the second to last tank in the line. The explosion sounded behind me and I grinned when I heard shouting and orders spitting out of soldiers' mouths to shoot me down, kill me, don't let me escape, and as I passed three more tanks and one bulldozer I threw another grenade belt on them and continued galloping away as another explosion sounded behind me followed by the machines giving into the flames and blowing up themselves. The grin on my face stayed there as I pulled one single grenade from the last belt, pulled the pin but held the trigger down as I came to the front of the line and stopped. Only two more tanks and one more bulldozer were left, and I grinned over at a group of soldiers, half of them on the ground from the second explosion and the other half just staring at me like I was the harbinger of death, and at that moment, I was.

"For Caesar!" I threw the single grenade to my left where the crate of C4 was and where the horses had been originally tied, and then pulled the pin on the belt and threw it at the feet of the soldiers standing next to the tank in the front before turning my horse and taking off at a gallop to get away from the coming explosions. I was closer to this one than I was to the others because of my delay in getting away so I felt the heat wave on my back as the initial explosion set off another chain reaction and the rest of the machinery caught fire and went boom. The grin on my face turned into a smirk and I hooted loudly as I rode away in the direction that Rocket and Blue Eyes had gone. Speaking of my partners in crime, about half a mile to a full mile away they had stopped and were either watching the explosions or waiting for me as I galloped up to them without slowing down, and hooped with the smirk still on my face and threw my fist in the air as I passed them. They both grinned at me and started following me at a gallop, the horses they were holding onto having to keep up with them.

The explosions could be heard at each of the trenches and even at the colony, causing mild panic. Everyone was curious, where did it come from, what was it caused by, who was the attacker and who was the victim? After a while, they got their answers when Rocket, Blue Eyes, and I rode through the tunnels and into the colony. Caesar, Maurice, Luca, and a few of his guards met us at the entrance to the cave, frightened looks on their faces.

"What happened? Are you alright? Where did these horses come from?" I grinned at Caesar and was about to tell him to slow down and calm down so I could tell him what happened but Rocket beat me to it.

 _Kenai is insane. Come, we will tell you inside._ I grinned at Rocket who rolled his eyes at me and dismounted before we all handed the reins off to a few apes so they could find somewhere to keep the horses and tend to them. We followed Caesar and the others into the depths of the colony and to the main cavern. There was a rock next to the mini river in the main cavern where council business happened, and that is where we sat now; Caesar, Cornelia with her youngest son in her arms, Blue Eyes, Lake, Maurice, Rocket, Luca, Winter who was a newer albino gorilla that had joined Luca's guards, and myself.

"There was ten of them, and about 15 soldiers, maybe 20. They were using the tanks and bulldozers to tear down trees and create paths in the foliage of the forest. They were going to destroy everything, just to find us. I had to do something, so I took action." Caesar sighed and put his chin on the back of his hand and his elbow on his knee, thinking.

 _What you did was suicide! It's a miracle they didn't kill you!_ I looked over at Rocket and huffed. Even after succeeding with my plan he still objects to it.

"Rocket is right, what you did was dangerous, and reckless, but very brave. That should put a halt to the Colonel's advances, for now." I looked over at Caesar and smiled a little before Blue Eyes had to go and ruin the moment.

 _Or just make him angrier._ I sighed at this and pouted over at Blue Eyes who shrugged his shoulders, a gesture he picked up from me. I looked down at the rock beneath my bare feet and stared at it for a second before a thought popped into my head.

"Caesar?" The ape king looked over at me and I looked up at him as I still had my head down when I spoke his name.

"The Colonel is getting closer, and more unpredictable. I don't think any of us could have seen those tanks coming, and if they had reached one of the trenches, or even here, God only knows what would have happened. We need to get away from here, far away from here." Caesar sighed and seemed to be thinking.

"What do you propose?" I looked over at the others before back at my king.

"We know the soldiers came from the north based on what Malcolm had told us, so what if we go east? We are in California right now, which is as far west as we can get on this continent, so what if we go east and away from here. There are huge mountains out there, and who knows what else that could potentially hide us. Send out scouts, just a couple apes to check it out. Me, Rocket, and Blue Eyes were able to move around those soldiers without them noticing without a problem, it was quite easy actually. Send two or three out and they could make it out of the forest and find us a new, safer home away from all of this violence." The others looked over at Caesar and waited as he thought, this could bring us good news, or bad news, but the Colonel is becoming more dangerous and irrational, so we have to do something, and soon, or they might find us and wipe us out. After a second of thinking, Caesar looked up at the council then at me.

"Very well. We will send two apes to go east and find us a new home, but they must be volunteers." I was about to volunteer myself when Rocket stood up and turned to Caesar.

 _I will go. I have lost my son and my wife to this war. I do not want to lose anyone else._ I wanted to join him, and just as I was going to stand up myself, someone else beat me to it, again.

"Blue Eyes, no!" I looked over at my friend and frowned as Caesar stood up and looked at his son.

"No, I will not let you go, you are too im-…" Before Caesar could finish, Blue Eyes cut him off the same way Caesar had to him when we were hunting in the woods over a year ago.

 _You are my father, our leader, and I respect and love you, but as your son, I can not wait here and do nothing to assist in winning this war. I want to do my part, so I will go with Rocket._ By his side, Lake started hooting in distress and Blue Eyes turned to her and helped her stand up before smiling at her and hugging her. Caesar let out a growled exhale before turning to Rocket.

"You will leave immediately, take a gun with you, some food, and water. It will be a long journey." Rocket nodded and left to gather the supplies and two horses as the rest of us moved slowly to the entrance of the colony. Now standing at the cave opening, two horses pulled aside for the journey that will most likely bring us good news, Rocket stood with a pack and a gun strapped to his back, and Blue Eyes stood with Lake in his arms. I walked up to Rocket and gave him a small smile before putting my arms around his neck and he circled his arms around my waist.

"You be safe out there, Ya hear? And bring yourselves back in one piece, okay?" I pulled away and Rocket gave me a smile before we touched foreheads for a second and I walked away to say goodbye to Blue Eyes. When I walked up to him, Lake was refusing to let go of his arm, she really did not want him leaving her.

 _I will come home to you, I promise._ I smiled at this as Lake reluctantly let go of her mate's arm and when Blue Eyes turned to me my smile faltered and I had to fight off tears. The ape who had become my second friend in this weird family gave me a smile and pulled me into a hug before he too touched his forehead to mine. I wanted to say something to him, tell him to watch his back, anything, but I kept my trap shut and he started walking away, having already given his mother, father, and little brother farewells. As we watched the two apes mount their horses, turn them, and start trotting away from the colony, I said a small prayer in my head for whatever God or higher being is out there to keep them safe and bring them back to us with good news, and soon.

A/N: This is the shortest chapter I have done for this story! SPOILER WARNING! The next chapter will begin about four months before the events of War and will transition into the actual events of the third movie, so if you haven't seen it, go watch it and come back! Please review and let me know what you think! Thank you for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

Eight months. It's been eight months since Blue Eyes and Rocket left the colony to find us a better home, and I was starting to get worried. Outside the entrance to the cave into the colony, there is a rock ledge to the side large enough and flat enough for me to sit, and every day that is where I was. I haven't gone out hunting since they left, Blue Eyes was my hunting partner, and we made a promise to each other after Ash died to never go hunting without the other, just as they had done, and I was gonna keep that promise. A young ape that was moving through the ranks of Caesar's ape army rather quickly had taken a liking to me, and he was good company, most of the time, he was rather violent sometimes and liked to show off, but he was cute and very sweet and respectful towards the females and the council. His name is Spear, and every day he would try to get me to go hunting with him, but I would refuse, telling him I only go hunting with Blue Eyes, he would get upset each time and stomp away, but then come back an hour later with a plate of fruits and apologize for losing his temper. Of

A young ape that was moving through the ranks of Caesar's ape army rather quickly had taken a liking to me, and he was good company, most of the time, he was rather violent sometimes and liked to show off, but he was cute and very sweet and respectful towards the females and the council. His name is Spear, and every day he would try to get me to go hunting with him, but I would refuse, telling him I only go hunting with Blue Eyes, he would get upset each time and stomp away, but then come back an hour later with a plate of fruits and apologize for losing his temper. Of course, I would forgive him and for a while, he would sit with me watching the entrance to the colony until he was pulled away by his duties. He knew what I was watching for, any sign of Blue Eyes and Rocket coming home, but that didn't bother him, he didn't know them but was interested in meeting them. When they had left he was a low rank on the totem pole of the ape army, so he had only heard stories about Rocket and had met Blue Eyes once, but after he started moving up he would meet with higher ranks and eventually started training with Luca's guards and that is how he met me.

Spear said he has seen me around the village quite a lot, both here and at our old village down south. He told me how he was curious about me and wanted to meet me but since I always held the company of council members, high ranking army members, or high ranking females, he was never allowed to get close. Hanging out with Spear was nice, he made me feel special, but I could never develop feelings for him as my feelings for Caesar were still very strong and gaining strength each day. I was always finding new things to love about him, and every time he smiled, which was rare nowadays, it would fill my heart with joy. Even with my feelings for Caesar, I still let Spear hang around but I never let anything happen between us. He would bring me gifts often, and he sat with me on my ledge or during our meals in the main cavern, but he never tried to advance on me, which I was grateful for.

With each day that passes and no sign of the boys, I would go deeper and deeper into a depression and it got to the point that I stopped eating, I hardly slept, and when I did my dreams were filled with screams of the apes I loved and I would wake up either screaming myself or sweating, and with how close I was to where Caesar and his family slept, they heard it almost every night, so after a while, I stopped going to sleep all together. I stayed up sitting by the mini waterfall in the main cavern, on my ledge outside by the road, or out in the forest in a tree.

There was one day where I was sitting next to Spear on our ledge watching the entrance to the colony, I was sitting with one leg hanging off the ledge, and my other pulled up and I was hugging my knee to my chest with my chin resting on the top of my arm as it was slung over my knee.

"What if they are dead?" My voice must have startled Spear because he didn't answer so I turned my head to him but kept it resting on my arm.

"What if they didn't make it out of the forest all those months ago, and they were killed? It was my idea to send a small group of apes out there… it's my fault if they are…." I couldn't bring myself to finish that sentence as I buried my head into my arm and felt a pair of arms wrap around my body and a chin rest on my head. Spear cooed at me for a few minutes and helped me calm down before he tried to get me to eat, and as usual, I did not. I don't know how Caesar felt about me not eating, I don't see him very much anymore, he stays in the village most of the time and I hardly ever leave my ledge. There were a couple times where Spear had to go get Caesar because I was being 'stubborn' as they called it, but I just didn't want to move, or eat, or sleep, or do anything, which upset our leader greatly. He ended up picking me up and threw me over his shoulder one time, to the amusement of the apes around us, and just made me pout and blush before he took me inside, made me eat, and then made me go to bed with him, Cornelia, and Cornelius. Lake even joined us that night because she was very lonely and missing her mate. Ever since then, Caesar made me sleep with him and his family because the only time I could sleep was when Caesar and his wife had their arms around me and I had a little baby Cornelius wrapped around my neck, which usually ends up with me waking up with the child's butt in my face, which is pleasant….

One night I had gone to sit in a tree by myself in the middle of the night because I couldn't close my eyes. It's been ten months now since Blue Eyes and Rocket left, they still weren't back, and something was going on with Cornelia now. She was acting sick, but at the same time, acting like she was in labor with a child, which is impossible because chimpanzees can only give birth every four to five years and Cornelia had a child less than two years ago. So instead of staying in the village where stress seemed to follow me everywhere, I went out to the forest and climbed a tree, and with my dark colored furs I was difficult to see, but soldiers who have flashlights on the ends of their guns, they are very easy to spot on the forest floor. I had come across a group of soldiers, only three of them, sneaking around the forest too close to the colony for my liking. How did they get passed the trench? There was a trench, not three miles to the east from here which is the direction they were coming from, it was one of our least manned trenches because it is on the southeast side of the colony where we hardly ever see movement, so it won't surprise me if they took it down. I'd be pissed if they did but this is different, these soldiers were not plowing through the bushes at full speed like they usually are, they were watching their steps, barely making any noise, the only indication they were there was the one in front having a small, barely visible flashlight on his gun that was flickering on and off as if the battery was dying. I growled low and hopped down a branch to get closer. These guys were not making it any further than this. In a flash of half a second, I felt my depression disappear and was replaced with rage, rage towards the humans as they got closer to my home. You are not taking another home away from me!

I waited until they passed the tree I was perched in and jumped down onto the soldier in the rear. We went rolling into the bushes and stopped with me kneeling on his neck and a hand over his mouth with my other hand pulling his gun away and throwing it away from us. I looked up to observe the other two, they hadn't seen me, but they heard us go rolling over the ground so they had spun around and have been looking around to try and find their soldier buddy. I looked down at the soldier, fear in his eyes as I pulled my knife from my satchel and put the tip against the skin of his neck just above my knee. I bared my teeth at him and pierced his flesh and destroyed his voice box in the process of burying my blade through his neck until it reached the ground underneath his head. I watched the life drain from his eyes and thought nothing of it as I stood up slowly, pulling my blade along with me, and moved in a crouched position across the forest floor until I came up behind the soldiers again. They had turned around and was still looking around the area that had originally been behind them, so the guy that was leading the group was now in the rear of the only two remaining. I snuck up the trail behind him and quickly jumped up and latched myself onto his back with my left hand on his forehead pulling his head back. As he cried out I brought my right hand up with my knife and slid it across his throat with enough pressure to sever many nerves and open up arteries before the soldier fell to the ground and started bleeding out, clutching at his throat, gasping and coughing. The last soldier turned around as soon as his partner had cried out and instead of just shooting me he pulled his combat knife from under his chest armor and lunged at me. He tackled me to the ground and we rolled a few times, and with how short I am I was able to fold my legs up and push at his chest to get him off of me after we stopped rolling. He fell backward and landed on his ass allowing me to stand up, crouch on all fours, roar, and jump at him, taking him the rest of the way to the ground. I tried to bring my blade down on him, but he beat me to it and thrust his combat knife up into my left shoulder. I cried out in pain and stumbled back switching my knife to my left hand so I could pull the soldier's blade from my shoulder and throw it to the ground with my right. I growled at the man and lunged at him again, only this time he didn't have a knife on him and I did not give him enough time to bring his gun up to shoot me before I landed on his chest again and swiped my knife down at him, cutting his throat just as I had with his buddy who was lying not three feet away. I stood there for a few minutes, huffing and panting before the adrenaline started to wear off and the pain in my shoulder started to dull my senses and block out my hearing and sight. I growled at this and put my knife away with shaky, blood soaked hands, and now my left leg had blood all over it from the knife I didn't bother to clean. I started stumbling back towards the colony, hoping and praying I would make it there without passing out.

The closer I got to the village, I would try to hoot or screech, yell, anything to get someone's attention, but it wasn't until I was coming through the first concrete tunnel that someone heard me and came running down the road. I was clutching my shoulder when I got there and had my head hung down to my chest so when I heard panicked hoots I looked up to see Spear and Luca quadrapeding toward me at high speed. I reached my bloody hand out for Spear when he got close and he immediately took it before seeing the wound on my shoulder and picking me up bridal style to take me the rest of the way into the village with Luca running ahead to wake Caesar and the others. By the time Spear took me into my room, the entire colony was awake and had heard that I was injured. Caesar, Lake, Maurice, Luca, Spear, and a few females were in my room with me and were all fussing over me. The females, Spear, and Lake trying to clean my wound which was on my left shoulder and luckily was the shoulder that was bare as my bearskin shirt came over my right shoulder. Caesar, Maurice, and Luca were trying to find out what had happened.

"Three… soldiers… snuck past the southeast trench, engaged them… they were too close… to the colony… to get help. First two… went down easy… but the last one put up a bit of a fight." Spear growled as he still held my hand and squeezed it before looking up at Caesar.

 _The southeast trench is not heavily guarded and would have been easy to get past. We must send more apes to protect it so this does not happen again. Let me go, I will lead a group to the trench and strengthen our defenses there._ Without hesitation, Caesar nodded at Spear and they stayed with me the rest of the night even after the females had cleaned me up and left. My left leg had also been cleaned up and my blade had been washed off of the soldier's blood and my satchel removed from my hip as I slept with Caesar and Spear by my side.

The next morning, Spear geared up to take a total of 80 apes with him to the trench, and I had decided to go with them and was trying to convince Caesar to let me go.

"Absolutely not! You need to rest and recover." I glared at Caesar as I stood in front of him, barely affected by the wound in my shoulder now because my rage towards the soldiers was growing and dulling the pain.

"I am going, Caesar, and you can't stop me. Last night, when I saw those soldiers, I felt anger, and a want, a need to do something other than sit on my ass and feel sorry for myself and worry about Blue Eyes and Rocket never coming back, and the fact that I am the one who sent them away, possibly to their deaths." The look on my face quickly contorted into one of fear and sorrow as I thought about Blue Eyes and Rocket.

"Kenai, you do not know if they are dead, and if they are it is not your fault!" I growled up at Caesar for the first time ever and he actually took a step back from me, mild surprise on his face before his features turned cold and hard again.

"It has been ten months since they left, and I was the one who suggested the trip happen in the first place…" Caesar shook his head before his features softened and he stepped forward to put a hand on my good shoulder.

"Kenai, we need you here, I need you here." I was about to protest again when Caesar smiled and looked over to his right and I followed his gaze to see Cornelia walking towards us, but what was in her arms made me gasp and I was left absolutely speechless.

Two months ago, Spear took my horse I had named Star because of his forehead and a group of 80 apes and went to the southeast trench without me, and I stayed in the colony with Caesar and the others. It felt weird not having Spear around, we weren't a mated pair, far from it actually, it was only one sided, but we were still friends and I had gotten used to him being next to me most of the time. The day Spear left he had confessed to me that he loved me, which was weird for me, and it had nothing to do with him being an ape since I'm in love with an ape, it had to do with thinking of him as only a friend and having to put him in the friend zone. I told him I liked him as a friend and thought he was very brave, but I was in love with another, I didn't tell him who for obvious reasons, but he was very understanding, telling me he would continue to protect me and would stay by my side for as long as he could, well, sort of. He couldn't do that by going to the front lines, but I understood what he meant and I was very grateful for that.

Ever since I had blown up those tanks and machines and killed those three soldiers in the forest, the Colonel's attacks have been getting worse and more brutal with each month, week, and now with each day. It felt like an actual war, every day we got new word of a patrol or trench being attacked, wiped out, or one of the decoy bases being set a flame with apes inside. We had originally planned on the decoy bases being completely empty, but after a while, we started stationing small groups of apes at them as look outs. They were outfitted with heavy duty spears and given guns that were scavenged off dead soldiers and taught how to detect early signs of soldiers attacking, like the forest going silent, birds taking off from nearby trees, or even a shift in wind or the smell of the trees around them changing. The soldiers started getting smarter and would be able to set the decoy bases on fire from afar by use of flaming arrows or even flaming boulders thrown from catapults. Talk about old fashioned, really old. We eventually pulled back from all of the decoy bases, now only three of the 14 remaining, and focused on strengthening our trenches and colony defenses. We came up with a warning system at the colony, apes stationed at high vantage points but hidden under canopies of leaves, branches, and moss who would watch for any signs of someone approaching and would warn the rest of us. These sentries were stationed at multiple locations on the cliff side by the waterfall, over the road, and even on the other side of the river. The trenches were built higher, and even into the ground itself, giving them the feeling of a real war trench, the walls were built thicker, with sniper nests where apes with bow and arrows waited for a fight. Maurice and some of the other more intelligent apes were working on poison darts and arrows, poison gas, smoke bombs, and even sleep darts to aid in the fight. Any tactic I could think of that I have heard about over the years from other humans or from classes I brought up to Caesar, some he denied, but most he approved after heavy debate with the council about the needs of these tactics.

We were enjoying our morning meal in the main cavern when screeching came from the walkway behind the waterfall and an ape with blood coming down his left temple came running into the cavern with angry and scared apes behind him.

 _The southeast trench, big attack from soldiers. Most killed in fight, but we captured prisoners!_ This ape I recognized as one of Spear's personally trained apes, his name was Oberon and he understood sign and spoken word very well, but he had a difficult time signing to others, he used short and choppy sentences just to get his point across and that was it. We all dropped our food and followed him from the colony and mounted horses at the entrance before galloping towards the southeast trench. Spear was not my mate, but I still feared for his life and all I thought about was if he was okay until we arrived at the trench and I was hit with sensory overload. The smell was terrible; burning flesh, fresh blood, ashes, and rotting corpses, but the visuals were stomach turning. Piles of dead apes, new bodies being added to the numbers each second, and in a separate pile, rotting human soldiers, full of arrows, covered in blood, and one even had a smashed skull with a horse hoof printed on his temple. I had to look away and stare at Caesar's back as we walked through the lines, injured apes hooting and helping each other to either stand up, sit down, walk, or even reach their hands out to Caesar as he walked by. Most of the apes we were passing had arm wounds or head wounds, but all of them had their battle paint on, and as we passed, Caesar didn't even bother putting his hand out for comfort and from behind him I could hear his breathing get deeper, he was seething with anger, I could feel it radiating off his body, and it made me feel my own rage start to bubble. We still hadn't seen Spear, and fear gripped at my heart a little, but he was commander of this trench now, so he was probably with the prisoners so I tried to calm myself a little. Behind me, Luca and Winter were huffing at the injured apes and trying to give them comfort while also keeping up with Caesar's slow and smooth movements through the trench.

When we came close to the top walkway of the trench, there was, even more, apes huddled together and trying to patch up wounded, and out to our right I could see down the hill where the soldiers had been trying to go, on the opposite side of the battle, toward our home and snorted before looking at Caesar's back again. We were coming up on the main room of the trench, and around Caesar, I could see the lanky form of Spear and I heaved out a sigh seeing my friend alive. Spear turned to us and reached his knuckles out for Caesar in a greeting and the ape king returned the gesture before Spear turned to me and a smile came to his lips. I smiled back and moved next to Caesar and up to Spear before we touched foreheads and he pulled me into his arms, refusing to let go until I pulled back and saw something in his nose and left ear that wasn't there two months ago when he left. I poked at the bone through his nose and his left ear causing him to snort.

"What's this? You got piercings, when did this happen?" Spear huffed at me which I smiled at but that smile quickly faded when I looked over at four soldiers and a gorilla kneeled before us, all of them except the ape looking at me from under their helmets or eyelashes with disgusted looks on their faces. I growled at them and Spear put a protective arm around my shoulders as we continued to glare at the humans. I looked over at Caesar who was moving his gaze from human to human, pain in his eyes until Maurice came through the crowd and stopped next to our leader who looked down at his friend.

 _Sixty-three dead._ I growled as Caesar closed his eyes and exhaled before looking at the humans again. I've never gotten the chance to look at one of these soldiers without putting a blade in their neck or a spear in their chest, and right now, that was all I wanted to do and it took everything I had not to, the arm around my shoulders might have been the only thing stopping me at this point.

"You're him." Caesar looked at the human who had spoken and apes all around us started hooting quietly like the human had broken a law by speaking, especially to Caesar.

"You're Caesar." I growled at this and tried to take a step forward but Spear gripped my shoulders tight and Caesar put his arm in front of me.

"We've been searching for you for so long. Heard you had a hidden command base, but we could never find it. Some of us started to think that you might be dead. But Colonel McCullough said you were out here somewhere-"

"Just kill us already." A human piped up from the left side of the line and the female soldier in the middle tried to quiet him.

"Shut up."

"What, they're animals. He's gonna slaughter us." Well, this is quite amusing, and I am not gonna let Caesar take this from this lowlife. I shrugged Spear's arm off from around my shoulders and ignored his warning hoots not to get involved as I moved past Caesar while pushing his arm out of my way and got in the face of the soldier who was stupid enough to speak those words.

"I would be happy to end your life you miserable bag of bones." My words were growled at the man and all he did was glare at me as a hand was put on my shoulder and I was pulled back to switch places with Caesar who gave me a warning look before walking up to the man with rage on his face and angry tears in his eyes. When Caesar stared the human in the eye the man looked away almost ashamed before looking back up to Caesar as he spoke with slow and careful words, his voice low, steady, but full of pain.

"I… did not start this war. The ape who did is dead. His name was Koba. I killed him." Caesar looked to the other humans before looking at the one who spoke out again as if emphasizing that he was not to blame for the start of this bloodshed.

"Now I fight only to protect apes."

"Yeah? What about him? We've got ten more just like him." The soldier I had threatened nodded his head toward the ape at the end of the line and we all turned our heads to him. He had his head down and to the side, avoiding eye contact.

"I know these apes. They follow Koba. They tried to kill me. They fear what I will do to them. So now, they serve you, just to survive." Caesar looked away from the gorilla now but I continued to glare at him until he spoke.

"I don't fear you." Apes started hooting again and Spear stepped back to bring his spear up into the gorilla's face as a warning as I stepped up next to him and growled lowly.

"You must fear. How long you think woods can protect you? Humans destroy you. Their Colonel has all power. For them, he more than just human. He everything." I rolled my eyes at this and scoffed before crossing my arms, carefully, as my shoulder wound still ached.

"He say, first, Caesar die. Then all of you die." I growled at the suggested threat on Caesar's life and stepped to my left without thinking, putting myself in between the renegade ape and my king before giving a glare to the gorilla as Spear knocked his weapon into the ape's side then backhanded him across the face. The force of the blow sent the traitor to the ground and Spear gripped at the fur on the gorilla's neck before Caesar reached a hand around me and put it on Spears' shoulder. My friend stopped and looked up at Caesar with a scowl on his face before our leader gestured to have the ape removed and Spear started hauling him up into a sitting position.

 _Winter! Take this traitor outside!_ I looked over my shoulder as Winter, the albino gorilla that was added to our council last year, walked around us and did what he was told. When they were gone, I looked over at Spear who came to stand next to me again, and when I felt a hand on my shoulder I looked behind me at Caesar who gave me a commanding look to stand down. I then realized I had been standing between Caesar and our captured enemies in front of us and a mild blush came to my cheeks as I stepped aside for Luca to stand next to Caesar now.

 _What should we do with the humans?_ Caesar looked back at the first human that had spoken to him, who has not said a word since then and pondered for a second. I wanted to suggest feeding them to the wolves running around the forest, but Caesar wouldn't do that, he had too much of a kind heart, and I started realizing I was getting more and more violent towards humans. God, I hope I'm not turning into Koba…. This thought scared me and I had to fold my arms and hug them to my chest under my beaver skin cloak to comfort myself as I watched Caesar who turned to Spear and me.

 _Gather two horses and bring them out front. Bring the humans._ Without another word Caesar turned and headed for the exit of the trench as I watched him go, wondering what he was thinking. Spear and Luca pulled the four humans to their feet and started pushing them forward to follow our leader and I gave Spear a sad look followed by a sigh as he passed. I stood there for a second, hugging myself and looking at the floor below me before I turned and followed the group.

We ended up outside in the rain where two horses had been gathered per Caesar's orders, and the humans were thrown on top of them, two on one, and two on the other. Spear tied the hands of the soldiers in front to the reins and the wrists of the soldiers in the back to the saddles we have fashioned out of leather hides over the years. This allowed them to stay on the horses but did not allow them to move very much, and they had already been emptied of all weapons when they were captured. I stood leaning against a tree behind and to the left of where the horses were standing as I watched Spear secure the humans to the horses, a glare evident on my face which has been there since I realized what Caesar was doing.

"You're letting us go?" I didn't bother looking at the human that spoke, just continued to watch Spear work.

"Tell your Colonel, you have seen me now. And I have a message for him. Leave us, the woods, and the killing can stop." Caesar thrust his chin at Spear, who now stood behind the horses, and Spear smacked the butt of one of the horses, sending it on its way, the other following close behind. I continued to glare after the humans, even when Spear stood next to me and Caesar and Maurice spoke.

 _Do you think they will give him the message?_

"They are the message, Maurice. He will see we are not savages." I turned my head to look at Caesar now, those words seeming to make my anger completely unnecessary, but the glare continued to stay on my face, even when he looked at me and sighed, most likely seeing hate in my eyes. When loud and deep hooting came from the top of the trench we all turned and looked up to see Winter come to the edge holding his hand over his left eye, blood soaking his head and shoulders.

 _The traitor attacked me! He got away!_ Damn it, I looked over at Caesar and saw him give out a frustrated sigh before slowly turning back to me. Without a word I pushed off the tree and walked down the path the horses had taken the humans before stopping about 20 feet away from everyone and staring down the road, letting my mind wander, or trying to until I felt a presence behind me.

"I know what you're going to say. Killing those humans would be wrong and prove to McCullough that we are just animals, and I understand that… just… don't like sending them away with them knowing the exact location of the trench." I heard a sigh and footsteps before Caesar stood next to me, and I swear he has grown taller or I have gotten shorter cause now he was like five inches taller than me instead of just three, not fair.

"That is why we are pulling all of our troops from this trench and taking them home. Besides, many of them have loved ones they have not seen in awhile, and it seems you are one of them." My head whipped up to look at Caesar now, a blush on my face which only grew when I saw the amused and smug smirk on his lips as he looked down at me from the corner of his eye. I pouted at him and smacked his arm before turning and walking back to the trench with Caesar following me, smugness still on his features. I really hope he was refurring to Spear and not himself...

Evacuation plans were well underway now, the bodies of all the fallen apes were being loaded on horse drawn wheel-less wagons, whatever food they had gathered was packed and put in makeshift saddle bags, and soon we were on the road back to the colony, but this time we went at a slow walk, dreading having to give the news to our friends and family at home that we lost 63 apes today. Me and Spear rode next to each other, catching up on what the other has been up to the last two months.

 _You are healing well?_ I smiled at my friend and pulled my beaver skin cloak up to reveal a puffy scar about two inches in length on my left shoulder.

 _As well as I can be. Still tender, but I'm taking care of it. Lake and Caesar won't let me do anything around the village so I help Cornelia and the other females with the children._ Spear smiled at me.

 _You would make a great mother._ I blushed at this and a small bashful smile came to my face.

 _Thank you. So, when did you get those piercings? You didn't have them when you left._ Spear grinned and puffed out his chest a little.

 _You like them? Makes me look cool._ I giggled at this and decided to be completely honest with him.

 _They do look very good on you._ Spear smiled at me and I gave him one in return until we fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes.

 _I've missed you._ I looked over at my friend who was looking ahead, but I honestly could have sworn he had signed something to me.

 _Sign that again for me, please?_ Spear looked at me this time a serious look on his face.

 _I've missed you. It hasn't been the same without you around._ I was a little shocked at this, but at the same time, not really, he had professed his love for me not two months ago, and to be honest, I have missed him as well.

 _I've missed you as well, Spear. I got used to you being around, and things got a little awkward after you left._ Spear smiled a little at this and moved his horse a little closer to mine.

 _Are you still sitting on your ledge all the time? Are you eating? Sleeping?_ I giggled a little at his concern for me.

 _I actually have a lot to do now. I still don't go hunting, not without Blue Eyes, but I have new duties in the colony that I have to do every day, and I absolutely love it. I have been eating and sleeping very well as of late. Now that you are coming home, I will have someone to hang out with during my free time though. If you would like to that is…_ I blushed at the last part, and almost felt like I just asked Spear on a date, and the smile that came over his face made my blush deepen a little and smile back.

 _Of course, I would do anything to spend time with you._ I don't think my blush can get any worse right now. He may not be Caesar, and I'm not in love with him, but something Caesar had said to me two years ago when we were beside the shallow pools north of our old village the night Koba and I had gotten in our fight, kept ringing through my mind the last couple months. 'You deserve to be happy, Kenai.' I couldn't get those words out of my head, and maybe, if I gave Spear a chance, maybe we could be happy together?

A/N: The version of War for the Planet of the Apes that I have has subtitles for the sign language, but I can not put subtitles on the spoken words and sounds, so if I got a word wrong or something, then I do apologize! Once my DVD shows up in the mail I will go back and edit anything that needs to be edited that way it is correct, but the DVD doesn't get released until October 24th... too long in my opinion... Hope you liked, please review for me so I know what you think and if you have any ideas I'm starting to get to the point where I have stopped writing a couple months ago, so I will start writing new stuff and would love to hear ideas that y'all have! Thank you for reading, and I will see you in the next chapter!


	11. Chapter 11

Getting back to the colony was stressful for many of us. We were greeted by the rest of the apes when we arrived, but after the news spread around of how many we lost, the mood quickly turned gloomy and depressing. This attack was the worst yet, we've never lost more than 20 apes, so this attack would go down in ape history as the most brutal attack by humans ever. After returning home, we had a sending off for the apes we lost, they were sent down the river, just as we had done with Tinker two years ago when she died. Down the hill from the road next to the river, I sat just below Caesar and Maurice, watching our dead float away, the death in the air taking its effect on me as my face was blank but my eyes angry and hurt, if I feel like this I can't imagine how Caesar feels. I bowed my head and rested my chin on my knees as I hugged my legs and stared at the rocks by my feet instead of the apes around me.

"Koba still haunts us. Why didn't I see that he could not forgive what humans did to him?" I picked my head up and turned around to see Maurice shake his head at Caesar.

 _No one could have known how much darkness… was living inside him._ I was close enough to the two that I picked my arm up and set my hand on Caesar's knee in comfort before vicious and ear piercing screeching came from above us. We looked up to see our lookouts on the cliff side screeching in warning, something was coming. Quickly, all of the apes started moving up the rocky hill to protect whatever might threaten our home. Caesar and Maurice were in front of me and reached the top first, so when Caesar was upright he turned around and put a hand out to help me up the hill the rest of the way. I took his hand and smiled at him before familiar screeching came from my left. I looked over to see Spear at the front of the pack, spear in the air ready to attack and I tried to go to him to pull him back cause if someone was attacking he was the first one hit, but Caesar put an arm up to stop me making me look down at it and up at him to see him staring at the tunnel before us. I looked that way and heard the sound of horse hooves falling on the ground before two dark figures could be seen on horseback walking towards us. When they emerged into the light I gasped and put a hand over my mouth and my other landed on Caesar's shoulder as tears of relief and joy started to form in my eyes; Rocket and Blue Eyes, I was looking at Rocket and Blue Eyes, two of my boys, they came home safe! As I watched them dismount and Blue Eyes sign to his father, I felt my hand slip off Caesar's shoulder as he moved towards his son. I followed Caesar, slowly, and stopped next to Spear, hand still over my mouth, tears threatening to fall, and my friend put his hand on my shoulder but I ignored him as I watched Caesar and Blue Eyes embrace. The hug lasted a minute and as Rocket came up next to them they pulled away and Caesar had one hand on the side of our prince's head, and he and Rocket touched foreheads.

"Welcome home, Rocket. You look tired."

 _It was a long journey._ I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it almost felt too good to be true. Caesar looked from Rocket to Blue Eyes, a smile on his face.

 _Father, we found something!_ Caesar patted their shoulders and went to turn around.

"Come." As soon as Caesar turned to head back into the colony he caught sight of me, hand still over my mouth and staring at Blue Eyes and Rocket, who both stopped and looked at me before smiles came to their faces.

 _I thought you were dead…_ The tears that brimmed my eyes fell down my cheeks now and the look that came over the two apes' faces was as if saying 'silly Kenai' and Blue Eyes was the first one to come up to me and embrace me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and squeezed hard, not wanting to let go, but when I felt Rocket's hand on my back I pulled away from Blue Eyes, keeping one hand gripping his arm, scared that if I lose contact he'll disappear, and pulled Rocket into a one-armed crushing hug. When I pulled back I smiled at both of them and felt another hand on my shoulder and looked behind me to see Spear with a smile on his face.

 _She's been worried about you two for months. She thought she killed you by sending you away._ Rocket huffed and looked at me, a stern look on his face.

 _We volunteered for this, Kenai._ I frowned and pulled Blue Eyes to my side again and laid my head on his shoulder.

 _But it was my idea for the trip to be made, what if something happened to you guys?_ Blue Eyes huffed this time and put his arm around my shoulder.

 _We are fine, Kenai. If anything had happened, you would not be to blame._ I sighed and looked up as Caesar came up between Blue Eyes and Rocket, and I looked over at him.

 _Can I give him the news, please?_ Blue Eyes looked confused and looked from me to Caesar.

 _What news?_ Caesar smiled and nodded and I turned to Blue Eyes, a happy grin forming on my face now as the tears started to dry on my cheeks.

 _Blue Eyes, you're a big brother again!_ Shock crossed Blue Eyes' face as he looked over at his father who gave him a smug look and a shrug.

 _How is this possible?_ Caesar shook his head and put his arms around the shoulders of his son and best friend.

"Come, let us go inside, there are many waiting to see you." Caesar put a hand on my shoulder as Blue Eyes and Rocket pulled away and we all started walking towards the cave entrance. As we walked, Blue Eyes and Rocket were on either side of Caesar, and I was behind them with Spear walking next to me, arm around my back and hand resting on my shoulder and I used my right hand to grip at his and pull his arm around me as much as possible, needing as much comfort as I could get. We entered the cave and walked through to the main cavern, and as we started coming up the walkway behind the waterfall, all of the children and females started running to greet us including Cornelia with a newborn baby in her arms and Cornelius holding her hand while walking next to her. The look that came over Blue Eyes' face was of fascination at seeing the baby, you see, chimpanzees only give birth every four to five years, and Cornelius is only two years old, so Cornelia having another child this early, it should be impossible, but here we are, little baby ape that was the reason I stayed in the colony instead of going with Spear and the others to the trench. When Cornelia saw her son, she slowed down and a happy surprised look crossed her features.

 _Mother…!_ The two embraced, careful not to squish the baby between them, and while the two held each other, Cornelius moved from his mother's side to Caesar's and grabbed his father's hand. Me and Spear had stopped behind the family, and Spear turned to me and we touched foreheads before he walked away and I watched him go for a second before looking over at Caesar who was staring at me. I wasn't able to read the look on his face, it just seemed blank, but his eyes were very expressive, and from where I was I couldn't figure out what he was thinking, so I moved closer and stood next to him, but he turned away from me and back towards his family. Blue Eyes and Cornelia parted and Blue Eyes turned around and gestured to his brother. Caesar picked up Cornelius and Cornelia came up to me and handed me the youngest of the family. I took the baby and cuddled it to my chest, stroking my hand over its head.

 _Cornelius… Say hi to your brother!_ Blue Eyes took his brother's hand and smiled at him as he laid his other hand on his brother's head. The smiles I was seeing were happy and joyful and it made my heart swell a little seeing the ones I love back together again. When Blue Eyes turned to me and looked down at the baby in my hands and pointed to it with a quizzical look on his face I smiled and walked up to him till I was in between Caesar and Cornelia.

"This is Keefa, this is your sister." Blue Eyes' eyes widened a little and he moved forward to greet his new sister. The baby in my arms turned her head to Blue Eyes, then looked at me with a small squeak and I nodded to her before she looked back at her brother and reached her arm out and poked Blue Eyes on his cheek. Blue Eyes and Caesar chuckled before Cornelia laid a hand on her oldest son's shoulder.

 _Look who's here, son…_ Blue Eyes looked at his mother then at where she pointed and stopped when he saw Lake walking toward us trying to herd a group of younglings. Lake looked up from hooting at the children and stopped, the kids in front of her doing so as well until their caregiver gave them one last absentminded gesture to go ahead. They took off and Lake stood up straight as she stared at her mate, the same look on her face that I had when I first saw him, questioning if he was real or not.

 _Lake…_ I smiled as Blue Eyes walked up to his mate and stood in front of her for a second before pulling her forward and leaning their foreheads together and sighing. I looked over at Cornelia and saw a mother's look on her face that clearly said she did not want her baby boy growing up and I giggled before Caesar wrapped his free arm around both of us and pulled us close before leaning his head down to rest on mine as we watched the scene before us with Cornelius and Keefa poking at each other.

After greetings and reunions were finished, the council gathered on our rock in the main cavern, the rest of the colony surrounding us on raised walkways and the ground along the cavern walls, listening and watching our conversations. The council consisted of Caesar, Cornelia who had their son with them, Blue Eyes, Lake, Rocket, Luca, Maurice, Winter, Spear, and myself. I was sitting between Maurice and Spear, Luca and Winter on Spear's other side, Blue Eyes and Lake to the right of them. Next to Lake was Cornelia and her youngest son with Caesar to their right and then Rocket to his and then back to Maurice. In my lap was Keefa, my little princess. She was a princess, she was Caesar's daughter and Caesar was our king, which made Blue Eyes and Cornelius princes and Keefa a princess, and she was so precious that I called her Princess more than using her actual name. My little princess was currently taking a nap as the council conducted their business, watching as Blue Eyes pulled a hand-drawn map on an animal skin from Rocket's bag and laid it out before us. Cornelius walked up to it and started running his fingers over the lines just as his big brother was doing.

 _This is it, father… We can start over… A new home._ I looked at where Blue Eyes was pointing and it looked to be just over the mountains, they went far enough east that they crossed over the Rocky Mountains! Cornelia started hooting a little and pulled her younger son to her to sit by her legs.

 _What is beyond those mountains, son?_ With a smile on his face, Blue Eyes gestured to Rocket.

 _Show them, Rocket…_ The gray ape stood up and started hooting while holding his bag and looking around the cavern before handing the bag to Blue Eyes who put his hand inside and pulled it out to drop sand on the map in front of us. The apes around us started hooting in fascination at the sand and I looked over to see a huge smile on Caesar's face, one that I have seen more on him since the boys returned then I have in the whole last two years of this war. I smiled myself when I looked back at Blue Eyes and the hand that wasn't holding Keefa to my chest as the princess slept reached over and took Spear's hand and squeezed it. He looked over at me and smiled and gripped my hand in response.

 _A desert! The journey is long… But that is why humans will not find us._ Blue Eyes still had a smile on his face, happy and excited as well even as Winter chimed in.

 _We must leave tonight!_ The looks that came over the apes' faces clearly said they thought the idea was totally far-fetched and almost made fun of the mere concept of leaving immediately.

 _Tonight? That's impossible!_

 _How long can we wait, Lake? Soldiers getting closer!_ Winter had a point… they kept getting closer and closer and soon they will find their way here.

 _Winter…_ Blue Eyes tried to comfort the albino gorilla, but when his hand landed on the larger's arm, Winter growled at him and threw his hand off with a violent wave of his arm before standing up. I jumped back a little from where I was sitting and my grip on Spear's hand tightened before I saw Caesar stand up in intimidation as if daring the other ape to start something. Winter looked up at Caesar in shame before crouching to the ground and bowing his head in submission, remembering what Caesar had done to Koba when he challenged him.

 _Your son's been gone, Caesar… He doesn't know how hard it's been._ To emphasize his point, Winter pointed to the wound on his forehead where blood has stained his white fur a dark brownish red color. Again Blue Eyes put his hand on Winter's shoulder, but this time the gorilla just bowed his head again and did not react violently.

 _I know you are scared… We all are… But we are still planning…_ Everyone seemed to calm down now, but Caesar still stood, and when he spoke we all looked up at him.

"Yes. We must find a safe out of the woods. There were only two of you, but we are… many." Caesar waved his hand around the cavern to prove his point as there was over two hundred of us just in the main cavern and he sat down again while looking at Winter who avoided eye contact. I looked over at the albino gorilla, confusion on my features. Why was he acting like this? Winter never lost his temper like that or spoke in fear. He has always had faith in Caesar and the colony, and never showed signs that he was scared. He was a shy ape, there is no doubt about that, but he was strong and was Luca's right-hand ape, so why the sudden change in behavior? I huffed before looking back at my king as he continued to speak.

"We will find a way out of here. Apes… together… strong." I smiled as he put his fist together, and the rest of us followed, well, mostly, I still had a little Keefa against my chest so I was only able to hold up one fist, but the point was still gotten across as all of the apes around us started hooting. Caesar stood now and held his hand out for his wife who took it and also stood up.

"Come, let us eat." I smiled at Cornelia as she came up to me and put her hands out for her daughter. I gently pulled Keefa from my chest, careful not to wake the little princess, handed her to her mother and they walked away to wait for our dinner to be prepared. It didn't take long, the meat had already been cooked, and fruits had already been sliced, so they were being distributed around to everyone. Caesar, his family, Maurice, and Rocket sat on the council rock to eat their dinner, and usually, I sit with them, but I decided to sit with Spear instead, and we sat on the far side of the room next to the cavern wall close to the walkway down to the cave entrance. I sat next to Spear eating some mango, and since Spear knows that is my favorite he gave me all of his even though he likes it as well. During our meal Spear told me all about his commander's position at the trench, and told me about things that happened, some funny, others not so much, but they were interesting stories nonetheless.

She is giggling… why is she giggling? What did he say to her to put that smile on her face? So many thoughts were going through Caesar's head as he chewed his food and watched Kenai from his spot on the council rock. He knew he was staring, but he didn't care, and no one asked him about it since he was alpha. Spear was making Kenai laugh and smile and was sitting very close to her, and all of the cuddling they were doing lately, holding hands, arms around shoulders, looks given to each other as if they were mates… it bothered Caesar. He didn't know why, but he was jealous and felt almost threatened. Kenai was always by his side, and if she wasn't he knew where to find her and knew she was alone most of the time. When he found out that Spear had become infatuated with Kenai, Caesar started spying on them. Watching them from a high vantage point in the main cavern, or finding a hiding spot outside the colony where he could sneak off to and watch them as they sat on the ledge by the cave entrance. Caesar liked Spear, he had respect for him, and he was a good soldier. He followed orders well and without question, and went above and beyond his duty, sometimes putting himself in harm's way to do so, but when he started hanging around Kenai and wouldn't leave her side, Caesar started to become wary of the ape commander. He did not like how close he was with Kenai. Kenai was a part of his family, she belonged to him, not Spear. Caesar huffed and growled which caught the attention of Maurice who looked up from his plate of food to see Caesar glaring across the room. Maurice looked at what his leader was glaring at to see Spear running his fingers over Kenai's head and smiling at her as she blushed and looked away, smiling a small bashful smile in return. Maurice smirked and looked back at Caesar before throwing a walnut at him. When the nut hit Caesar on the shoulder, the leader snapped from his angry staring contest with no partner, looked down to his shoulder, then over at Maurice, glare still on his face but confusion in his eyes.

 _You and I need to have a word._ Caesar huffed and looked away, knowing that Maurice had caught him staring at Kenai and Spear, and Maurice is the only ape who has ever and will ever call Caesar out and get away with it. The others on the council rock were completely oblivious to what was going on, as were Kenai and Spear, so they were all confused when Maurice stood up and walked through the group, grabbed Caesar by the wrist and started pulling him away from his food, all the while Caesar was protesting like a child with lazy hoots and annoyed huffs. Kenai giggled at seeing Maurice haul Caesar away like a mother pulling their child away from a video game and she went back to listening to Spear tell another story, this time about one of their hunting trips down at the trench.

 _What was that?_ Caesar huffed and tried to put on an innocent face.

"What was what?" Maurice grumbled in annoyance as his leader tried to avoid the question.

 _I saw that look on your face when you looked at Kenai and Spear. Are you jealous that Spear has Kenai's attention?_ Caesar growled a little before turning around and walking away a couple steps before stopping at a wall and looking at the ground, thinking. Maurice had brought Caesar into his room, a ten by ten rock chamber, no door, and nothing but a hanging bed inside similar to a hammock.

"I don't know, Maurice. Ever since Spear came into Kenai's life, she's been distant from me and the others. She hardly ever left my side and when Spear showed up, I hardly ever saw her. After Spear left and Kenai stayed here to help take care of Keefa, we had grown close again, and I've realized how much I missed that. I just… don't want to lose her again. She's not his mate, he is not a very good fit for her, she needs someone strong, protective, respectful of her, and not quick to violence like Spear is." Maurice stayed quiet while his leader spoke, and when Caesar turned around, Maurice smiled at him.

 _You do not want her to be his?_ Caesar shook his head slowly, knowing the answer, but not knowing what to do about it.

 _You want her to be yours._ This was not a question, and more a statement, and it caught Caesar by surprise when he almost immediately responded with 'she is mine' before he stopped himself, his eyes widening before he realized what was really going through his head. Finding out Maurice had figured it out before he even did made Caesar feel like a young ape again like he first did when he met Cornelia, nervous, flustered, and fumbling over himself.

"What do I do, Maurice?" The ape Caesar had been friends with for years and years smiled at him and stepped forward to put a hand on Caesar's shoulder.

 _Make her yours._ With that said, Maurice turned and left to go back to the main cavern to finish his food, leaving Caesar standing in the middle of the room, shock on his face and a million thoughts running through his head. After a few minutes, Caesar's face turned firm and determined as he made his decision on what he would do and the ape king marched back to the cavern and finished eating while trying to ignore the flirtatious hoots Spear was giving his Kenai. If he saw it, he might lose his cool right there, and that would ruin his plan.

It wasn't till after dinner and after everyone had gone to bed when Caesar found Kenai in her room standing next to her bed removing her beaver skin cloak, her bearskin hip wrap, and her leather satchel. Kenai had an animal skin draped over the entrance to her room, preferring to have privacy for when she removed her clothes to wash them, so Caesar moved that out of the way, not even asking Kenai if she was decent, and stopped on the other side of it to watch his human woman.

After dinner, I had gone straight to my room to get ready for bed. I still slept with Caesar and his family every night, but I would always go back to my room and remove my winter clothes before doing so. I learned after a few nights that sleeping with my warm clothes on while surrounded by apes is not a good idea, I get very overheated very quickly, but removing my cloak and hip wrap are perfect because I stay a comfortable temperature all night. Now that I have those off, I can go to bed, and man was I tired, but before I could leave my room I had to get past the ape king, who was staring at me with a hard, intimidating, and kind of sexy look on his face.

"Caesar, is everything okay? What's wrong?" The only response I got was a huff as Caesar rolled his shoulders back as if in a challenge, and started moving towards me with a purpose in his step. I swallowed hard when he started getting closer and didn't seem to be slowing down, this made me take multiple steps backward before my shoulder blades hit the rock wall behind me followed by my butt. I was completely pressed against the wall when Caesar reached me and he placed his left hand next to my head and stood close enough to me that I felt the heat coming from his body and the hair from his fur tickled my skin before he leaned down and put his mouth next to my ear to slowly whisper with a calm voice.

"Stay away from Spear, he is trouble. You are mine, not his." I gasped at the feel of Caesar's hot breath on my ear and had to stop myself from moaning before he growled in my ear protectively and I felt him drag his teeth across the skin on my neck. I couldn't help it as a groan escaped my mouth at the feeling of my skin breaking as he left his mark on me. Caesar pulled back, gave me a hard look to emphasize his point before pulling away, turning, and leaving my room. This left me heated, red-cheeked and pretty turned on before confusion and hundreds of questions started running through my brain but first and foremost,

"What the hell just happened?"

A/N: Thank you, everyone, for your reviews! Especially you, Anyanka, your idea inspired the last part of this chapter! Please, keep the reviews coming I love reading them! I hope y'all like where I went with this chapter! Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	12. Chapter 12

Shock. What the fuck kind of shock. I don't know what happened, it happened too fast for me to comprehend, or even enjoy, whatever… that was. The ape I've been in love with for more than two years just waltz into my room, pinned me against a wall, ordered me to stay away from another male, told me I belonged to him, and marked my neck with his teeth and walked away. No explanation, nothing. Speaking of that mark, I grazed my fingers over the place Caesar had bitten me and felt my fingers get warm, wet, and sticky. When I pulled my fingers away they were covered in a thin layer of blood, but I felt no pain in my shoulder even though I knew he went deep enough with his teeth for it to scar over later. Everyone was going to see this… I think that was the point, and they will know who made the mark, I'm covered in his scent for God's sake. Spear has mentioned it more than once, saying that he could smell Caesar on me from 20 feet away, oh god, what is Spear gonna think? How is he gonna react? I groaned, dreading facing him, and pushed myself off the wall I was using as support, my legs feeling weak and wobbly as I hobbled over to my water pail to clean my neck off. The blood came off easy, Caesar was careful not to draw too much blood while still making it deep enough to scar, that means he has practice with that…. Chimpanzees usually do not mark their mates like that, they do take multiple mates and it is normal so I do not think Cornelia will have an issue with this, we have become like sisters over the last two years, but still, the mark on my neck is not normal for apes, but then again, Caesar is far from a normal ape.

Now that I had cleaned myself up and waited for my body to cool down, I could smell my own arousal which means so can the others, and I do not want to go to bed smelling like some sexed up horny teenager, I would probably die from embarrassment. I was still in a state of shock as I exited my room and headed up to Caesar's nesting area and when I arrived he was nowhere in sight but Blue Eyes, Cornelia, and Cornelius were there with little baby Keefa, my princess. The two youngest were already fast asleep in their mother's arms, but Cornelia and Blue Eyes were very much awake and staring at me as I approached. I looked at Cornelia and then down at the ground, as I stopped at the edge of the bed and shuffled my feet. Should I tell her, has Caesar already told her, can she tell something happened? I looked back up at her and saw she was smiling at me, as was Blue Eyes.

 _I am not angry if that is what you are worried about._ Well, excuse me Mrs. Mind Reader! I gave a small smile as she extended a hand out to me and I took it before sitting between her and Blue Eyes.

 _You are family, you always have been, just more so than the rest of the colony. Now, it is official._ Blue Eyes brushed his fingers over the mark on my neck and smiled again as I looked at my shoulder as if I was looking at the mark, then up at Cornelia.

 _He gave me one as well._ Cornelia used her hand that was not cradling two children to pull the fur on her neck to the side and sure enough, a small, Caesar shaped teeth mark was visible on her skin. I smiled again and blushed a little before a hot-headed commander popped in my head and the smile vanish as quick as it had shown up.

"What about Spear? I don't know how he is gonna react to it? What if he gets violent, and tries to hurt someone, you guys, me, or Caesar?" The others didn't have a chance to respond because someone else did for them.

"Then I will deal with him myself." My head whipped to the side to see Caesar standing there, the way he always does, back straight, knees bent, arms out and curled, left leg in front of the right. I've always found it super sexy when he stood like that, I'm not sure why, it just hit a sweet spot for me and always made me wanna stare and blush, which I did even now. I did not know what Caesar meant by I was his, I don't know if that meant we were mates, like him and Cornelia, or if I was just supposed to stay away from Spear and stay with Caesar's family, and be an extra help, like a willing servant or something. I will have to talk to him about that tomorrow when we get a chance. I was broken from my trance when Caesar started walking forward and kneeled in front of me.

"I will be there with you when the others find out so if there are any challengers I can deal with them, but I meant what I said, I do not want you alone with him, ever." Confusion crossed my face now.

"Challengers?" Caesar stood now and moved to sit between me and Blue Eyes as the latter moved over to make room for his father.

"When a female is claimed and presented to the colony as a claimed mate, other apes have a chance to challenge the male and have the female for themselves. When I claimed Cornelia, I had many challengers, as Cornelia was a very sought after female, as was Tinker when she was claimed by Rocket, but as we were two of the strongest males in the colony, we were able to keep our positions as their mates." I listened in wonder as Caesar explained one of their customs I had never heard about or even seen, in this colony or among wild chimpanzees.

"How come I've never seen this display?" Caesar sighed and relaxed in his seat on the bed.

"The last two years have been very stressful, and not many females have been claimed. Lake was the last one, and that was over a year ago." I looked over at Blue Eyes who gave me a smug look and grinned which I giggled at.

"Were you challenged?" Blue Eyes rolled his shoulders back and sat up straight before shaking his head which got a laughing hoot from his mother.

 _Yes, you were! Don and Riccah both challenged you! It was an entertaining fight because they were so much smaller than Blue Eyes and they kind of picked on him until his size got the better of them._ Blue Eyes' chest and shoulders fell as if he was a balloon that was just popped and he groaned at his mother who gave him a smile. I giggled and tried to fight back a yawn before it took over my features and Caesar chuckled his deep chuckle that I love so much.

"Let's get some rest." I nodded my head and let my body fall backward to lay on the bed before closing my eyes, turning on my side, and curling my arms into my chest. The others followed me, Cornelia and the kids were behind me and Caesar and Blue Eyes were in front of me, but what I wasn't expecting was arms wrapping around my back and pulling me into a strong chest. I opened my tired eyes and looked up at Caesar who gave me a smile and grunted before closing his eyes and snuggling me into his chest. I giggled and sighed before closing my eyes again and letting myself fall asleep with the sound of Caesar's breathing filling my ears and the quiet snorting of two sleeping children behind me.

Sleep was not coming to Caesar very well that night. The thought of his family, his colony, getting away from these woods, was very tempting and alluring, and it would not let him sleep. He had brought his son's map to bed with him, and not long after his girls and his sons had fallen asleep he had unhooked his arms from around Kenai and sat up, pulled the map from its spot next to the bed, and started to study it. The mountains, past the mountains where the desert was, they would start a new life there, he has a new and growing family to raise and support, and he can't do that when he is worrying about the apes he loses every day. The sound of quiet hoots came from Cornelius, he seemed to be having a dream, and Caesar looked over at his son and brushed his fingers over his head a small smile on his face as he also brushed over the heads of his three girls as they slept. Something caught his attention then, green lights reflecting onto the faces of his sleeping family and he looked toward the waterfall with confusion and mild alarm.

Dark figures were moving down the waterfall with green lights rippling through the water after them as if chasing them. Caesar put the map down, accidentally brushing Blue Eyes' arm in doing so, which stirred the ape. Tired eyes squinted open and a heavy head lifted from the bed to see his father standing up and moving toward the waterfall. Blue Eyes also saw a dark figure move down the water, but no more followed, and this woke him more as he saw his father's alarmed and quiet movements, so he sat up to observe. Caesar reached the waterfall now, they had extended the rock ledge using thick tree branches and that was where the ape king stood as he reached his hand into the rapidly falling water, having to force through the strength of the river above before his fingers grasped a thick cord and he pulled it from the water to get a better look before he looked up, having to squint his eyes and face against the water splashing his cheeks. Caesar released the cord and turned to step up to the bed again as Blue Eyes stood and crouched in front of his father, about to ask him what was going on, but Caesar put a finger to his lips to silence him.

 _Stay here, son! Protect the girls and your brother!_ Blue Eyes watched as Caesar moved away from him and got down on all fours to trot down the corridors, looking for the apes on patrol. As soon as his father was out of sight, Blue Eyes turned back to his sleeping family, wishing he could let them rest but knowing they would be too vulnerable asleep so he decided to wake them, quietly. He started with Kenai, putting a hand on her shoulder and moving it back and forth slowly until she opened her eyes.

"Blu-" Before more words escaped her lips Blue Eyes covered her mouth and put a finger to his lips. Kenai's eyes instantly shot open, completely awake and alert as she nodded her head and Blue Eyes let her sit up.

 _What is going on, where is Caesar?_ Blue Eyes shook his head.

 _He was spooked by something in the waterfall. Went to find out, I must protect you, let's wake the others._ Kenai nodded then pointed to Keefa, Blue Eyes' new sister.

 _Do not wake her, she gets rather noisy when she wakes up. Cornelia first, then your brother._ Blue Eyes nodded and went to wake his mother and brother as Kenai stood from the bed and walked over to the waterfall. She had to squint to see what would have Caesar so scared, but when she saw it, she narrowed her eyes and spun around before trotting back over to the others.

 _Soldiers! They found us!_ Blue Eyes quickly moved to the opposite side of the cavern to grab a spear leaning against the wall and moved back over to his family. Kenai curled her fists and realized she had left her quadrapeding gloves on by accident, which she can easily use as a weapon, the rocks on her gloves turned her hands into earth-based brass-knuckles. The family stayed on the bed as it was raised from the walkway through the corridors and would give them an advantage on anyone trying to sneak in, so when a human started coming up the corridor opposite of where Caesar had gone, Blue Eyes pulled his spear in front of him, and positioned himself between the soldier and the ones he was charged with protecting.

Quiet, we had to be absolutely still, and thank god Cornelius understood that and Keefa remained asleep. My breathing was forced and painful, I wanted to start panting in anxiety and nervousness, but I knew that would give us away, so I had to control my breathing. Me, Cornelia, and Cornelius stayed behind Blue Eyes, even as he moved around the bed, following the soldier as he started to get closer. As soon as he was below the platform where we were hiding, Blue Eyes jumped down on the man, bringing him to the ground and quickly bashing his powerful arms down on his victim, his spear lying on the ground, forgotten until the human was dead and Blue Eyes rose off the body, picking the spear up as he stood. I let out a soft sigh before panic flooded my system at seeing a green laser pointed at the back of Blue Eyes' head from behind him.

"Blue Eyes!" I practically screamed his name as I jumped from the platform and barreled into the ape. Everything went in slow motion, taking him to the ground and us rolling to a stop, the bullets flying by our bodies and over our heads, I could hear a scream and screeching, loud crying before everything went silent.

Caesar had found Luca on patrol, and he had sent him to gather the others and to wake Rocket, they would try to catch the humans off guard and take them out silently before they could do any damage and they all went in separate directions until Caesar heard gunfire down one of the corridors and they quickly moved that way. Rocket was crouched over a dead soldier, a scared look on his face, this is where the gunfire had come from, but Rocket didn't look like he had been hit.

"Rocket! What happened?" Caesar walked up to his frightened friend and second in command.

 _I heard him talking! The Colonel is here!_ Panic took over Caesar's body now as he grabbed the torch in Luca's hand and brought it down to the soldier's body before hearing a voice coming through a headset that he picked up and put to his ear.

"99, target acquired. 99, target acquired. Repeat, King Kong is dead. Let's go, I can get up from here." Fear and panic were obvious on his face as he threw the headset and the torch on the ground and started running at a speed no one had ever seen him acquire before. Luca and Rocket looked at each other in confusion before following Caesar, having seen him heading up to his cavern where his family was.

When Blue Eyes and I had hit the ground rolling after I tackled him, and after the bullets had stopped flying, I uncurled myself from around Blue Eyes' body to look around and then up at the platform where we had been sleeping peacefully not 30 minutes ago. What I saw made my blood boil and my stomach churn. A body, falling through the air, clutching a baby, blood soaking her chest and the body of the infant. I growled and screamed when Cornelia's body hit the rocky ground in front of us and stood up to go to her until I saw movement heading towards the waterfall and the sound of angry hooting behind me. Blue Eyes ran over to his mother hooting in pain, fear, anger, and everything in between which caught the attention of the soldier walking to the waterfall. He must not have seen us when we rolled to the ground, or he thought he had hit us with his parade of bullets because when he turned around he looked surprised and just stared at us. Blue Eyes was preoccupied with his mother, she was still alive when she hit the ground, shaking, hooting in fear, gripping at her son's hand, arm wrapped around a baby that had taken most of the hits, dying instantly from the trauma. I growled loudly and charged the soldier, knowing exactly who it was, the Colonel. The man turned his head to me with surprise still on his face until I lunged at him and his eyes turned cold and he swung his gun up to smash into the side of my face in mid-air. I fell to the side and landed hard on the ground with a yell before trying to stand up but falling back to the ground, dizzy and disoriented. I looked up from where I was and saw the Colonel reach into the waterfall and grab a red cord before hooking his harness to it and turning to me. He glared at me before the sound of heavy panting caught his attention and he looked over to see Caesar standing and huffing from the physical exertion of running at the pace he had. The two locked gazes as Caesar's breathing normalized for the most part, and confusion crossed the Colonel's face before his eyes trailed to the body of Cornelia and an infant Keefa being cradled by a sobbing Blue Eyes, the life having left his mother during my tussle with the man who invaded our home, if I can even call it a tussle. Caesar followed the man's eyes and he saw them, his ears finally picking up the sounds of Blue Eyes' desperate cries to his mother, hoping she would open her eyes. Agony and rage took over Caesar's features as he looked at his wife and daughter, then at me. I had blood coming down the side of my head, my vision was still blurry and as soon as we locked eyes I tried to stand up, but again collapsed to the ground, this time, not moving as my head hit the ground, making the pounding worse. Now Caesar looked up at the Colonel, and as soon as he did, the man brought his gun up, the tip of it covered in blood splatter from when he had knocked me down, and started firing his weapon, but Caesar ducked, tackled Blue Eyes and rolled with him to cover to avoid the bullets. Loud hooting came from the tunnel Caesar had come barreling from, and Luca, Rocket and the others came running into the cavern causing the Colonel to pause in his firing upon Caesar and started firing at the apes advancing on him before taking off up the waterfall as if ignoring the laws of gravity.

Caesar looked at the mangled body of his wife and daughter, now barely recognizable with all of the bullet wounds, and rage ran through his system before he gave out a loud angry roar and ran out from his cover, past all of the apes that had come to his aid, past me, and jumped from the ledge to grab hold of the rope and go after the Colonel. From there I could not see him as the water was too thick and moving too quickly, fear gripped at my heart not knowing if he was going to make it. Going after the Colonel like that was dangerous and apes can't swim, what if he falls? I ignored the pounding in my head and the dizziness that was screwing with my stomach and pushed my upper body up from the ground. I felt sick like I was going to lose all of the food I've eaten in the last week, but I pushed through it to get to my hands and knees to start crawling towards the ledge. I kept going until I heard a growled sob from behind me and turned my head to see Blue Eyes again crouched over his mother's body. I saw tears staining his cheeks, his teeth were bared, and his breathing was coming out in loud, growled huffs causing his cheeks to puff out every time he exhaled. I felt my throat clench when I saw Cornelia's eyes wide open, blood splattered across her face and all over her chest, but when I saw the small infant body clutched in her arms, unmoving, covered in thick, matted, and quickly drying blood, I gave out a high pitched cry and quickly scrambled to my feet, pain forgotten. I fell to my knees next to Blue Eyes who either didn't realize I was there or ignored me completely, and my hands hovered over the body of my little princess, Keefa.

"No… no, no ,no." My fingers touched Keefa's head and brushed over her fur before I pulled her limp form from Cornelia's arms and hugged her to my chest. I laid a hand on Cornelia's cheek and then moved it up to her eyes to pull her lids over her faded green orbs. With one hand holding my little princess to my chest and my other still covering Cornelia's eyes, I felt the death wash over me, and rage filled my veins. So much anger was radiating from my body, tears were unable to fall from my eyes. I wanted to cry, scream, sob, plead whatever God was out there to give them back, but all I felt was anger, hatred, and a need for revenge. I have never been so angry that I was not able to cry, so this was a new feeling for me. Everyone I have lost in my life has been to either natural causes, or the Simian Flu which I blamed no one for, but now, I had someone to blame, Cornelia and my princess were murdered in cold blood.

"He's gonna pay for this." The voice that came from my throat did not sound like me, it was deep, dark, pissed, and quiet. I looked over at Blue Eyes who turned his head to me just slightly still puffing his cheeks out from forced exhales.

Failed. Caesar failed to get to the Colonel before the human cut the rope sending him down the waterfall and into the river. Luckily the current was strong enough it brought him up to the surface and he was able to grab hold of the rocks on the shore and pull himself up. Now, Caesar walked through the colony, all of the apes awake now and scared, wondering what had happened but Caesar ignored them, the only thing he could think about was the bodies of his wife and infant daughter. He didn't want to see them again, didn't want to confirm that yes, they were gone, but he had to face his fear, he had to be strong, if not for himself, then for the rest of his family that survived this brutal attack. Only a few humans had entered their home, three total. One was killed by Rocket, Caesar had briefly seen another body in his chambers lying dead, and the Colonel was the third. Two humans dead, two apes dead, but not just any apes were killed, the Colonel was searching, he didn't just find random apes that just so happened to be his family and kill them, he targeted Caesar's family and now, he was going to regret doing that.

The scene that Caesar walked in on when he entered his chambers was a sight he had hoped and prayed that he would never see. Luca and a few of his gorilla guards along with Rocket and Maurice were standing off to the side of the room and looked at Caesar when he entered then avoided eye contact after that. On the stony ground next to his raised bed, Kenai and Blue Eyes sat next to each other, holding hands, the body of the colony princess in Kenai's arms and they were staring blankly at Cornelia's body. Blue Eyes had calmed down by now, he was breathing rather shallow and seemed almost empty, like a nut cracked open and removed of its innards. Caesar looked around his chamber, not seeing his middle child and looked over at Rocket and Luca.

 _Cornelius?_ They shook their heads with a shrug of their shoulders but then scurried off to look for Caesar's missing child. Luca left one gorilla and Maurice behind to remove the bodies to allow the healing of hearts to begin. First, the gorilla dragged the corpse of the human Blue Eyes had killed over to the waterfall and threw it over the side with no regard to the fact that it had been a living creature, and no one could care less. Then he walked over to Cornelia, crouched on the opposite side of where Kenai and Blue Eyes were, gave them a slight bow before gently scooping up the queen to take her to the main cavern for the entire colony to see and give their respects. Maurice came over shortly after that, put a hand on Kenai's shoulder and pointed to the baby in her arms when she looked up at him. She hesitated for a few seconds, just staring into Maurice's eyes, almost pleading with him not to take her princess, before she looked down at the baby, kissed the top of her head and gently handed her over. As soon as Maurice had his arms folded protectively around the baby, Kenai turned her head away with a growled grunt and tried not to watch Maurice leave, but could not help looking from the corner of her eye as he walked away. This was when she saw Caesar, and when they were finally alone, Kenai stood slowly, Blue Eyes following when he felt her tug on his hand and he looked up at his father. The look on Caesar's face seemed defeated, but there was a painful fire in his eyes that reflected in both Kenai and Blue Eyes as they walked up to each other. Blue Eyes let go of Kenai's hand to sign to his father.

 _Kenai saved my life, father, but I failed you in protecting mother and sister, and I do not know where brother is, please forgive me?_ Caesar shook his head as new tears started to trickle from his son's eyes and reached an arm out to him and Blue Eyes moved into his father's embrace. Kenai remained where she was and looked away, not meeting Caesar's eyes when he looked at her.

"I couldn't save them, everything happened so fast. After I got Blue Eyes out of the way, I don't know what happened. I just… couldn't save them…" Kenai ground her teeth together and clenched her fists, a few knuckles popping from the force, but when Caesar put a hand under her chin to make her look at him, she relaxed a little and met his gaze.

"It is not your fault." Caesar pulled her into his arms next to Blue Eyes and they lowered to the ground where they sat for the next ten minutes or so before the others came back. Apes gathered behind them and when Luca sat behind his leader his movements were slow and his face sad and cautious.

 _Caesar... We can't find Winter! He was scared! I think he betrayed us!_ Kenai huffed in realization at why Winter was acting the way he was during dinner as Caesar let go of her and used his right hand to place on top of Luca's hands to settle him down with a sad look on his face.

 _Have you found Cornelius yet?_ Kenai looked up at Luca when he hesitated.

 _We're still searching._ Kenai sighed and put a hand on Caesar's knee as Luca stood to move away and Maurice signed to the group.

 _Let's go look for Caesar's little son._ Kenai knew Maurice was trying to give the family some alone time, and when everyone left Caesar started huffing and moved forward between Kenai and his son to pick up a shell casing from a bullet. Blue Eyes and Kenai watched him with pained expressions and looked at each other when a sound of something crashing to the ground down the corridor in front of them caught their attention. Caesar, on edge and emotional, thought maybe a human was still in their home and was coming to finish the job, so his reaction was to grab Blue Eyes' spear from the ground and raise it toward the intrusion while standing up with a growl and a snarl. Kenai and Blue Eyes, alarmed by Caesar's response to the noise, also stood and readied themselves for a fight. What peaked around the rocks was no threat, but a tiny, terrified young ape who moved completely into view when he recognized three of the people he thought he lost. Caesar and the others had been panting loudly in anger and fear, but when they saw Cornelius their panting slowed and turned to relieved inhales and exhales. Caesar brought the spear down and dropped it to the ground before bending down and reaching his arms out to his son.

"C-Cornelius!" The young ape scurried forward and into his father's arms while whimpering in fear. Kenai and Blue Eyes also crouched down next to the two and watched with relief as Cornelius buried his head under Caesar's chin.

"You're safe now." Kenai whimpered a little and put a hand on the child's head when he pulled away from his father and reached for her and Blue Eyes. The human female was familiar to him, he grew up with her, and was almost like a second mother to him, and when Kenai leaned her head forward toward Cornelius, the youngest put his hand on her cheek and then reached back and circled his hand around her ear, like he had always done with his mother when he wanted comfort. It was an odd gesture, but Cornelius was an odd youngling, he was very different from the others, and seemed to advance quicker than the other children, but holding onto a person's ear was a special acceptance from him and it was calming for the boy. Kenai huffed and smiled at Cornelius before they were broken apart by Caesar standing up.

"Come, we must gather and speak with the others." Caesar's voice was forced and harsh, almost sounding like it was coming through a broken speaker, and when he started walking towards the main cavern, Kenai and Blue Eyes were right by his side. Entering the cavern had not been very pleasant, it was deathly silent and everyone was staring at Kenai. The midwives, their veils removed and forgotten for the moment, did not give odd looks to Kenai as she passed, they had already known for quite some time that Kenai was a part of Caesar's family because of the way Cornelia would speak to them about her. The mark on Kenai's neck gave them no surprise except that it had taken Caesar so long to make it, and seeing it was almost a relief for them. It had come at the best time for Caesar and his family, but the worst time for the rest of the colony. All of the males aside from the ones in the council were glaring at Kenai, only a couple had looks of surprise on their faces. Kenai felt like she did the first day she walked around the village two years ago after Caesar had given her the clear to leave the medical hut with the midwives as her escort. She was getting dirty looks, the male apes in the colony seemed upset and it had to do with the mark on her neck given to her by their king. They probably thought it was given to her right after Cornelia died, and maybe some of them were thinking that she lead the humans to them so they could kill Cornelia and Kenai could take her place. The looks given to Kenai by Spear were the ones that tore at her heart the most and caused her to avoid eye contact when they walked by him. He tried to reach out and touch her, touch the mark on her neck, betrayal on his face and in his eyes as his arm fell to his side, anger quickly taking over his body.

Caesar, Blue Eyes, Kenai, and the rest of the council gathered on the council rock in the middle of the cavern, apes surrounding them, some growling, some hooting in dissatisfaction. On the council rock also lay the bodies of the queen and princess of the ape colony and Caesar looked down at them. Cornelius saw his mother, hooted and squeaked at her in pain, reached for her for a brief second before his body went limp, arm falling to his side, and turned his head into his father's chest. It was almost as if he knew she was gone, and that she would never return, and it was painful to see, even for Caesar, who looked away from his wife's body and instead looked around him to see his apes glaring at Kenai. When the ape king looked at her, she had her head to her chest, avoiding looking at anyone, and her arms folded over her chest, hugging herself as if it was the only form of comfort she would ever receive. Blue Eyes walked up to her and put his arm around her shoulders, pulled her to his side, and put his other hand on hers that was wrapped around her right bicep before he looked at his father with a pained expression. Caesar sighed and looked around again before his eyes caught movement and landed on Spear who was walking up to the council rock.

 _Caesar, have you taken Kenai as yours, after your wife was killed?_ Caesar nodded his head slowly and handed Cornelius to Rocket as he was the closest to him before taking a step forward and standing to his full height.

"I have marked Kenai as my own, but it was last night when my wife still drew breath." Spear huffed angrily and looked at Kenai, who still avoided his eyes, hers now closed to the world as if it would all go away if she kept them shut. Spear looked back up at Caesar before signing, agitated.

 _She was to be mine, I was going to claim her! She is mine!_ Caesar growled deep but loud hoping Spear would back off, but he was a young ape, and he was stubborn so he stood his ground, even squared back his shoulders.

"Do you wish to challenge me, Spear? At a time like this, my dead wife and daughter still remain in the room, humans just found our home and will most likely be sending more soldiers here to slaughter all of us. Do you wish to waste the valuable time we have that can be spent preparing for evacuation?" Spear seemed unsure how to answer, licking his lips and shifting his weight from one foot to the other before looking over at Kenai who was looking at him. She was pleading with him to back down, he could tell by the look in her eyes, he had seen it before once when an ape barely older than Cornelius had tried to pick a fight with her and Spear had intervened. She had pleaded with him using her eyes, and every time he gave in, almost every time.

 _If I do not challenge you now, I cannot do it in the future and I will lose her forever. Our customs do not allow a challenge period to last longer than three moons, and those moons will pass before I get another chance._ Spear stepped forward again and up onto the council rock, now standing directly in front of Caesar. Spear and Kenai were the same height, which means Caesar was taller than him and was able to look down on him almost laughably so. Spear ground his teeth together and many emotions flashed through his eyes, he seemed to be having an internal battle, and when he looked at the bodies of the queen and the princess, the fight in his head was over with, his decision made, and he sighed before stepped down and away from the rock.

 _I will not challenge you, my king. Now is not the time or place. I am sorry, about Cornelia and Keefa._ When it came to names, the apes had created their own signs for them, Kenai's had ended up being to wave one's hand in front of their eyes, because of her red eyes. But Keefa's was special, usually the apes just used one-handed signs for names, made it easier and more convenient, but Keefa's name required two hands. You made a fist with your dominant hand, then laid your other over the back of it, as if playing rock, paper, scissors, then pounded your fist where your thumb and forefinger were against your chest, twice. Kenai sighed but tensed up when an ape from the other side of the cavern hooted in anger causing the group to turn and look at him.

 _How do we know Kenai didn't lead the human soldiers here so they could kill Cornelia and Kenai take her place as queen? Cornelia was your wife Caesar, and you took another mate! Your loyalties change quickly and without warning, how do we know they will not change again for favor of the humans hunting us?!_ This ape did not seem to be challenging Caesar to take Kenai from him, he was challenging Caesar and Kenai's loyalty to the ape colony in general, and this angered Caesar greatly because he recognized this ape. He was one of Koba's followers that had reconciled with Caesar after Koba's defeat just as Grey had done, the only difference was, when Grey betrayed Caesar again and took Red, the gorilla that now sided with the soldiers, and tried to take over the colony from him while he was still weak, this particular ape, Pongo, had not been a part of the mutiny and thus, continued to remain loyal to Caesar. Now he was seeing parts of Koba in him, questioning him and Kenai. Caesar growled and moved off the council rock to walk up to Pongo, the apes around him turning their heads away and moving away from Pongo as if he was about to explode. Pongo himself shrunk under Caesar's gaze, submitting to Caesar as the ape king towered over him.

"Two years ago, you asked me for forgiveness after following Koba, the ape that started this war. The last two years I have done nothing but protect apes from humans, and now, Pongo, you question my loyalty to my own troop. If I did not know better, I would say you have been taken over by Koba himself, but I do know better." Caesar rarely used aggression anymore to get an ape to submit, lately, he would just use a stern look as he had with Winter the night before, but with Pongo, he used words to put shame into the ape's heart, making him submit of his own accord and not through fear of Caesar. Pongo looked from the ground to Caesar's feet, then back at the stone before putting his hand out for forgiveness yet again. Caesar hesitated in giving it, but gave in, knowing he would need every last ape he had for the move coming their way.

"The ape that betrayed us and gave our location to the soldiers was not Kenai, but Winter." Surprised hoots sounded around the chamber, and after Caesar's dominance display, he returned to the council rock, Kenai looking down to the ground again until Caesar put a finger under her chin and brought her face up to look at him. She looked defeated, lonely, like someone left in a dark room by themselves for years, and Caesar knew what that looked like from the looks he had seen at the ape sanctuary a lifetime ago. Caesar sighed and touched foreheads with Kenai before pulling back and waving one of the midwives over. When she stood next to them, Caesar spoke to Kenai, but with the same words, gave a quiet order to the female ape.

"You, Kenai, are queen now. You will rule by my side, as mine." Kenai's eyes widened and got even larger when the female brought over had walked over to Cornelia's body, bent down and bowed to her corpse, removed her crown that she hardly ever wore over the last two years, and brought it back over to the human to place it on her head. No words, Kenai had no words, she wanted to say no, she didn't want to replace Cornelia, but she knew she wasn't a replacement, but a successor. When Kenai looked over at Cornelia she felt she needed to do something, and walked over to her body before crouching down, taking her hand in both of hers and putting the ape's knuckles to her lips.

"I will not fail you, Cornelia, I will do my best, and I hope I can be even half the queen you were." It was a big responsibility, and Kenai still did not know what the implications were when it came to her relationship with Caesar, she still needed to speak to him about that, but now was not the time, and there was something she needed to do, they needed to do, and it did not just involve moving homes. When Kenai released Cornelia's hand, she stood with a strong face, and the apes around the council rock no longer glared at her or had looks of discomfort, but strength, respect, and even pride. What Kenai was not expecting was all of the apes to get to their knees and bow to her and put their hands out in supplication as they had done with Caesar years ago. Even with the surprise from the acceptance of her, Kenai still had a hard look on her face when she turned to Blue Eyes and Caesar. The rest of the apes still had their heads bowed, and did not see what Kenai signed to the two most important men in her life.

 _I want the Colonel dead._

A/N: There is a lot that I changed with the story without even realizing it! When I finished the previous chapter, I started reading a book called War for the Planet of the Apes Revelations by Greg Keyes. The book is a sequel to Dawn and a Prequel to War and is based off of the screenplay for both movies. There was a lot that happened after Koba's defeat, I highly suggest y'all read it because it is pretty fasinating, but it does not follow the way I have written this story because when I wrote this, I did not know that book existed. I do apologize that it did not follow the actual story, but I hope you find this one still entertaining and a good read. Pongo was an ape that joined Grey and Red in trying to betray Caesar, and Pongo had even physically attacked Cornelia, but Cornelia had kicked his ass. I used Pongo and changed that around a little on purpose because I knew he was a Koba follower, but I changed it so he was not a part of Grey's betrayal so that I could use him in this chapter. I am also sorry for not giving Kenai and Spear a chance, but the way this story has gone has gotten rather juicy! Caesar has finally accepted he does have feeling for Kenai, but he still does not realize Kenai is in love with him, so when he will find out (and it will be glorious), he is still very much surprised! Thank you for reading, please review so I know what you think, and I will see you in the next chapter!


	13. Chapter 13

Both Caesar and Blue Eyes agreed with Kenai, they both wanted their own piece of the Colonel, he hurt them, took something they loved and cherished. The man needed to pay, and that is exactly what they intended on doing. They held a ceremony for Cornelia and Keefa, sent them down the river; Caesar, Blue Eyes, and Kenai all holding torches in their honor and memory. After they had disappeared down the rapids, the torches were thrown in after them, to follow them into eternity. Kenai even said a small prayer for them, crouched at the edge of the river, hands folded over each other, praying to anyone who would listen to protect them in whatever came next for them, the afterlife, rebirth, whatever that may be. After that was finished, evacuation preparations started, they packed up everything they had, all of the food they stored, animal skins they had collected, weapons they had forged. This time, their home hadn't been burned down, so they had all of their belongings, which compared to a human family, was not much. Each ape had enough stuff to fill one set of saddlebags and that was it.

At their old home, they rode horses bareback, no saddles, no saddlebags, nothing but a bridle. Now, times were different, with how much they had moved around and how much they had to spread themselves over the forest for protection, they had created saddles for their horses and saddlebags for their belongings. These ideas had come from Kenai, she did not know much about horses, except what she had learned in a western camp when she was around seven years old. Her mother had grown up with equines down in Texas and wanted her daughter to learn about them, they weren't really Kenai's cup of tea, but she loved to learn new things, so she easily absorbed and retained the information. Now it came in handy, though the saddles they created were not exactly what she remembered, they had to modify them for apes to use. They did not have stirrups like a normal saddle did, they had foot perches specifically designed for the unique shape of an ape's foot. Kenai's was the only one that did not have those perches, because she was human she needed something suited to her feet, so they had to create a saddle with normal style stirrups, just slightly smaller because Kenai was small, for a human her age, being only 5 feet tall, and she didn't wear shoes which made her feet seem smaller than other humans.

They even had more horses than they did before. At their old home, they only had enough horses for the council to ride, which was ten horses, now they had much more, counting around 40 horses. It took time to find them, after Kenai, Rocket, and Blue Eyes had stolen the first seven from the soldiers a year ago, they had started searching for more, finding several in nearby abandoned ranches, some running wild in the forest to the east. Most of the horses were black, but they had to make due with what they found, so they had white horses, paints, bays, roans, any and all colors you could think of. The black ones were given to the council, except Luca who seemed to form a bond with the pure white horse Kenai and the others had stolen back in the day, so he insisted on keeping her. Star, Kenai's horse that she had stolen, had been given to Spear when he went to the southeast trench, so Kenai got a new horse, a large, pitch black shire. Shire horses are the largest breed of draft horses, like Clydesdales and Percherons. Being the largest breed of horse in the world it was ironic for Kenai to get one because she looked so tiny on him. He was a smaller sized shire though, they usually stand anywhere from 16 hands for mares and yearlings, up to over 19 hands for fully grown stallions, and geldings are usually standing around 17, but this particular boy was only 16 and a half hands tall, still a giant though, and he was still growing. Kenai gave him the name Goliath for obvious reasons, and they shared a very particular bond, she was protective of him, and him of her, much like The Black and Alec from The Black Stallion series from years and years ago.

Kenai did not pack much, she wore all of her clothes, including her beaver skin cloak, and bearskin hip wrap and kept the crown on her head, her reminder of the role she now played, passed from Cornelia to her. She carried her spear and packed only her animal skin blanket for emergency warmth as the north was always cold, and the redwood was already cold as it is, so Kenai knew she would need it the farther they go, but she took nothing else except a gun Caesar had given her. A short ways down the river from the waterfall, they had built a bridge over the river for easy access to the north side of the rapids. They built it far enough away from their home that it would look as if they created it simply to cross over from one side to the other, and not to give them better access to their home. It did not seem to draw too much attention from the soldiers, they placed it so that when you crossed it and reached the road it would bend away from their home, instead of leading straight to their hiding place.

After everyone had gathered their stuff, they had left their home behind the waterfall and moved east, then north over the bridge and everyone gathered on the rocky shore there, checking their horses, re-packing their belongings if needed, gathering their children. When the gathering started, Caesar had chosen four of his soldiers to ride to the other trenches, give them the news of what had happened and pull all of his forces from them to meet the main colony at an eastern point on the river. At the front of the pack, Maurice, Luca, and Rocket already sat on their horses, waiting for the rest of the colony. Lake was also at the front of the pack, holding onto her horse and Blue Eyes' horse, checking their bridles and fiddling with them a little as one of the gorilla guards tightened the saddle cinch and made sure it was fit for the mate of their prince. Caesar, Kenai, and Blue Eyes walked through their ranks headed for the rest of the council, a shotgun in one of Caesar's hands and Cornelius' little hand grasped in his other. Kenai and Blue Eyes were behind him, each having their own gun slung on their back, and Kenai still held onto her spear, an extra weapon she may or may not need, but she brought anyway. Each of them had a grim look set on their faces and a certain fire in their eyes. As they passed the apes of their colony, they got a couple looks, but mostly everyone was worried about preparing their horses, or for one of the apes, running after his children as they ran across Kenai and Blue Eyes' path. Kenai watched him scramble after his child, hooting at him to stop running, and he stopped to pick up his other child, as he had twins, then he continued to chase the other. Kenai would have giggled at the scene had the circumstances been better, but the pain in her heart and the rage in her head were too strong for any kind of joy to show itself on her features, so she remained with a straight face as they continued following Caesar until he stopped next to Lake.

"Lake. You are my son's mate, look after his brother. Until I return." The look that came over Lake's face as she thought about the implications of Caesar's words made her eyes widen a little before she looked over at Blue Eyes, then back at Caesar and she shook her head a little.

 _You're not coming with us to our new home?_

"No." Lake looked over at Blue Eyes now.

 _You're going with him?_ Blue Eyes nodded his head and stepped up to his mate as she started hooting anxiously.

 _I just got you back, and you are leaving again, why?_ Blue Eyes tried to give his mate a reassuring smile, but it was so small you could barely see it, but he put a hand on the side of her head and they touched foreheads for a second before Blue Eyes pulled back to sign to his love.

 _I will come back to you, I promise, just as I did before._ Lake sighed and gave a small nod before looking back over at Caesar as they both bent down to Cornelius.

"Go with Lake." Lake smiled at Cornelius, but her head and hands shook a little as the child was handed off to her, fear, anxiety, stress, many things could cause it, but it was not from having to take care of a child. She was very good with children, she taught classes to female children about making clothes, or blankets, how to treat animal hides for creating saddles or beds, and what not. She also babysat some children when their parents were otherwise occupied, but it was mostly children of the council members, or the higher ranking army members. Cornelius was quiet as he put his hand in Lake's and gave a questioning and sad look to his father, not entirely sure as to why he was being handed off to a female that was not his mother or Kenai. Caesar put his hand on the side of his son's head before he was encircled by Lake's arm. The young one even looked over at Blue Eyes and Kenai as if searching for an answer, but neither of them said anything as the prince took his horse from his mate and they turned to start walking away with Caesar following, only to be stopped by Maurice.

 _Caesar! You're not going after them?!_ Caesar stopped and looked up at Maurice with pain and hatred in his eyes.

"Not them. Him."

 _Caesar, you are our leader! Blue Eyes is our Prince, and Kenai is our Queen! We can't leave without any of you!_ Caesar turned away from Maurice and looked at his youngest living child.

"You must. The soldiers will be back soon." Cornelius started hooting frantically while signing 'father' and trying to go to him but Lake hooted at him and gently pulled him back to her as he gripped her arm. Caesar looked away from his son and up at Luca and Rocket.

"When we find him, the soldiers will all come after us. That may give you the best chance to get out of the woods." Caesar turned to Kenai and Blue Eyes, and the three walked over to two horses off to the side at the edge of the trees, ignoring the panicked hoots of their apes, all asking where they were going, why they were leaving. Spear almost went after them when he saw Kenai leaving with them, but it was too late as she had already mounted her horse, and took off at a trot into the woods followed by Caesar and Blue Eyes. They headed north in the direction they knew the soldiers would be, still ignoring the loud hooting from the others, Rocket's distinct hoot being the easiest to make out. It took some time for the others to leave without them, but eventually, they did, heading east being lead by Spear and other high-ranking colony and army members.

Caesar, Kenai, and Blue Eyes had made it maybe half a mile, a full mile at most before the sound of hooves and neighs came from the path behind them. They slowed their horses to a walk and Caesar turned his head a few times before he stopped, sighed, and turned around, the others doing the same.

"Damn it, they don't listen do they." Caesar looked over at Kenai, his new queen, and saw she had a hard and annoyed look on her face as Luca, Rocket, and Maurice came trotting around the corner and stopped in front of them. Caesar shook his head, hoping they would just turn and leave, but no such luck as Luca started off giving a very good reason for him being there.

 _The soldiers' camp is always moving. My guards think they know where it is. Let me take you._ Rocket was the next to give his reasoning for coming.

 _You need me to back you up!_

"No." A solemn look came over Rocket's feature then.

 _Please… I know what it's like… to lose a child._ An image of Ash popped into Kenai's head, his dopey smile, his eyes sparkling, but the next image was of his dead body lying on a marble floor, no sparkle in his eyes, no smile on his face, and Kenai choked out a growl at the image, putting her head down a little before looking at Caesar.

"We may not make it back." Finally, Maurice gave his reasoning for coming along

 _That's why I am coming. To make sure you do._ Caesar looked at his council members, and in that moment he remembered that these three apes were not just his most loyal subjects, but also his best friends, and this ultimately made the decision for him. Instead of saying anything, Caesar just backs his horse up, having been sandwiched between Kenai and Blue Eyes, and turns back to the way he was going, the others following after him. Kenai waited to turn her horse until Maurice came up next to her so they could ride together and they rode in the back of the group, Kenai wanting to ask Maurice a couple questions.

 _You know it's going to be dangerous. We could all die._ Maurice smiled at Kenai and pointed to her crown.

 _You are queen now, I am surprised Caesar is letting you go. Besides, he needs protecting, I fear he will turn into Koba._ Kenai sighed at this before looking ahead at Caesar's back.

 _He doesn't want me here, he prefers me back with the others, with Lake and the rest of the gorilla guard as my protection. I told him no and said I am coming with whether he likes it or not. I almost told him he will have to tie me to a horse and send me with the others that way if he doesn't want me to go, but I know he would do that so I said nothing._ Maurice gave a rumbling chuckle at that before he looked over at Kenai and saw her brows knitted together and a look on her face that said she was thinking about something.

 _What troubles you, my queen?_ Kenai sighed and pointed at Maurice's hands.

 _That, that is what troubles me. What does it mean for me to even be queen? I know the responsibilities, having seen Cornelia performing them and even assisting her in doing so. I never knew why she insisted on me helping her with all of her leadership tasks, but I have a feeling she was preparing me for this like she knew she was going to die, or that Caesar would claim me. I still don't know what that means and I've been meaning to talk to him about it, but I would like to do it in private._ Maurice chuckled again and Kenai looked at him in confusion.

 _Do you know why Caesar claimed me?_ Maurice nodded his head.

 _He cares for you, Kenai. He saved you all those years ago because he saw something in you that he has not seen in anyone else except Cornelia. He saw leadership, a kind heart, a strong head, and even your stubbornness drew him to you._ Kenai huffed at that as if she found it amusing.

 _He hates my stubbornness, said so himself. It drives him crazy._ Maurice nodded and looked ahead at his leader and friend.

 _It reminds him of himself, and of his late wife. Cornelia was very stubborn as well. When we were younger and Caesar had just met Cornelia, she would lead him on, try to impress him, show him things she found amazing, but when he would try to advance on her, try to impress her, she would play hard to get, just because she wanted to tease him. She was stubborn in admitting her feelings for him, or showing her feelings, and even in allowing him to make her his mate. It was rather amusing for the rest of us to see._ The smile that came over Maurice's lips was of one remembering fond memories, and it made Kenai's lips twitch slightly as imagining Cornelia teasing Caesar. She almost giggled, but the gloom of their current situation ceased all happy thoughts.

 _Thank you, Maurice, for everything. And may I ask you a favor?_ Maurice nodded.

 _Anything for you, my queen._ Kenai huffed in mild annoyance.

 _Don't call me, my queen, I'm Kenai, always have been, always will be._ Maurice smiled a large smile and chuckled again before nodding his head and watching as Kenai nudged Goliath into a trot to pass the others and bring her up to the front of the group, next to Caesar. The ape king looked over at his queen, gave her a nod, and reached a hand out to her. She took his hand and squeezed it before releasing him and taking the reins in both hands.

"What is the plan?" Caesar looked ahead of him and moved his horse around a basketball sized rock in his path before veering back next to Kenai.

"We start with this place Luca's guards found. If we find soldiers, we make them tell us where the Colonel is, or we kill them." Kenai sighed.

"So we are going to torture them into telling us where he is, and if they don't, we kill them? Who does that sound like to you?" Caesar looked at Kenai, a sad look on her face, and he sighed before looking down.

"I know. I never thought I would understand where Koba's mind was, but now..." Kenai reached her arm over to put a hand on Caesar's shoulder prompting him to look at her.

"If you understand what Koba was thinking, then you can learn from it, not copy it." Caesar's eyes softened a little, seeing Cornelia in Kenai again, as he had hundreds of times before now. They were both very strong, very wise, and very smart.

"What do you suggest, my queen?" Kenai blushed and huffed before turning her head behind her to look at Maurice who, having heard Caesar call her 'queen' was grinning like an idiot. Kenai gave him a warning but playful glare before turning back to Caesar and pointing a finger at him.

"First off, don't call me that. I'm not used to it yet, and it still sounds a little odd to me." For the first time since humans showed up in their homes, a smile found its way to Caesar's lips making Kenai pull back with mild surprise before her own lips formed a smile and she looked down at her horse.

"For starters, we need to see if this camp is even legit. They may have dummy camps set up, just as we had done, or even a trap laid and waiting for us. We need to be cautious of where we go, what we do, and who we meet. If we find soldiers, we capture one of them and question them. No torture, no physical harm unless they attack first. Caesar, you are still a good person, do not prove to Koba you can be just like him, or even like the Colonel. We are going after the Colonel, not his men. They did not pull the trigger that killed our loved ones, the Colonel did." Caesar sighed, his throat growling at the same time, and looked over at Kenai with another smile.

"You were always the wise one." Kenai smiled at Caesar and wanted to test the waters with a question.

"Just like Cornelia?" Caesar was taken back by that question and looked at Kenai with surprise clearly on his face before the look fell into a calm expression.

"Yes, just like Cornelia." Kenai smiled at this and they now rode in silence as they trotted down the road. Once entering into unknown territory, they changed up their positions a little. Caesar rode in the front, with Blue Eyes behind him, Luca on the very end, Rocket in front of him, and Kenai and Maurice in the middle of them. If something or someone came at them from the front, Caesar and Blue Eyes would be able to protect Maurice and Kenai, and if something or someone came from the rear, Luca and Rocket would be able to protect Maurice and Kenai. Maurice was not a fighter, and Kenai was their queen, though she could take care of herself in most cases, they still protected her as much as they could.

As they trotted down the road, they passed an old semi truck with a Coca-Cola trailer hooked to the back. It was rotting, rusting, and covered in mother nature, but the signature red and the letters that read 'Coca-Cola' were still very much visible, and it made Kenai's mind go back to the old days and she tried to remember the last time she had a soda. It had been a very long time, over 12 years, and she was having a hard time recalling what it tasted like, smelled like, but she could remember what it sounded like when you popped open a can and heard the snapping of the carbonation. After passing the truck, the thought lingered in Kenai's head for a few minutes before it was forgotten. Like most of the luxuries that had disappeared over the last 12 years, Coca-Cola was one of the first and was a non-necessity, so the only thing left of it was memories that quickly vanished themselves and were replaced by the troubles of war.

The trees around them quickly dispersed and they came upon a small cliff. Below them, about 15 feet was a rocky shore that extended 100 feet or so out to the left before turning into water. Across the way, they saw a small cluster of rundown buildings that looked to be abandoned except the small wisp of smoke coming from the center of them. When they stopped at the cliff's edge, Luca came up next to Caesar, with Rocket on the end to their left. Kenai and Blue Eyes were to Caesar's right, and Maurice was on the end next to Blue Eyes.

 _Guards think soldiers here… Always fires burning._ They followed the cliff edge around to the buildings, having to go down a small hill and entered the area from the south. Everyone had their guns at the ready, even Kenai who had strapped her spear to her saddle and decided to use the gun instead. They came to a stop and dismounted before gathering around Caesar.

 _No one here…_ Caesar looked at Rocket, then around the area.

"Search the area." The others turned away from Caesar and started down the hill to check it out while Caesar entered the building directly to his right. Kenai thought about following him but decided to go with the others instead. They didn't get very far when a human carrying a bundle of firewood came into view and he slowed to a stop when he saw them, his eyes shifted to each one of them before landing on Kenai.

"I'm just gonna put this down." His voice was calm and quiet, and he started to bend down but decided to drop the wood instead and quickly reached for his gun hanging off his shoulder. As soon as he had his gun in hand and before he was even able to raise it, a loud bang echoed through the valley and the man flew back, his finger instinctively pulling the trigger, throwing a few rounds into the earth at his feet as if it was the one that shot him. When the man landed on the ground, he was already gone, eyes closed, mouth slightly gaped, and his head rolled to the side. When the first shot was fired, everyone had flinched, and Rocket had thrown himself in front of Kenai as she had been standing to his left. Now, everyone stared at the man in shock, and turned their heads to the left to see Caesar slowly emerge from the building, gun still pointed at the human and a hard and pissed look on his face. Shock still had its hold on the group as they watched Caesar with wide eyes as he turned his head to them then walked forward to stand over the man he had just killed. They all walked up to the body together and looked at him, seeing an Alpha and Omega tattoo on his neck.

"He's one of the Colonel's men." Caesar looked over at Kenai as she glared down at the soldier and pointed his gun at him, half expecting him to open his eyes.

 _What's he doing out here alone?_

 _Maybe he's a deserter?_ Kenai looked over at Rocket and was about to say something when a crashing sound came from the house in front of them causing them to look in that direction. Kenai brought her gun up and took one step to stand next to Caesar before she huffed at him. He looked at her and started moving towards the house, Kenai right on his heels and the others behind her as they came up to the door. The building was crooked, years of California earthquakes misshaping the earth beneath it, and to open the door, Caesar slammed his shoulder into the wood and it flew open from the impact. He quickly moved to the side and slumped against the door to allow Rocket in next to him and they observed the room, looking for a threat. Behind Caesar was Kenai with Luca directly behind her, his chest almost pushing up against her back and one hand on her shoulder protectively. Kenai was not used to this, everyone jumping in front of her to protect her from harm, or holding her to them in another form of protection from any threat they might not be able to see. She did not know if she liked it or not, but she tolerated it because she knew these apes, and knew they did it not just because she was now queen, but also because she was a friend. She would do the same for them if she actually got the chance.

Caesar looked down to the floor to see metal shelving lying horizontally with broken jars scattered around the floor, their liquid and slimy contents now staining the wood. As he inched forward, the others followed, and Kenai moved closer to Caesar's back, almost hugging him, and when he felt her presence he looked at her from over his shoulder, then back forward, checking every door as he passed by. They passed by desk lamps, more shelving with a bunch of random crap on them, even a fan sitting on a table. When they got closer to the back room of the building, they could hear rustling, someone was moving around the room directly in front of them. Caesar pushed opened the door and they entered the room quickly, pointing their guns around them, looking for the person that caused all of the earlier commotion. Caesar saw movement on the bed against the wall to the right and pointed his gun there, Kenai behind him to the right, her gun pointed over his shoulder at whatever the threat might be. As Rocket and Luca entered the room they also pointed their guns at the target, Rocket hooting while he did so, and Blue Eyes entered after Maurice, keeping an eye on the way they had come just in case someone followed them, his gun pointed down the hallway, but his eyes and attention on the commotion to his left. Maurice walked up to Caesar and stood on his left to observe what was curled under the covers on the bed before surprise and alarm took over his features and he reached around Caesar to place his hand on top of the gun and lowered the weapon. Caesar complied, seeing that the bundle hiding from them was a young girl, probably around the age of 10, and he stood to his full height before moving around Maurice to leave the room, Kenai following and giving one last look to the child. She knew the girl was not a threat and felt sorry for her that they had killed her guardian, even though he had tried to fire on them first, and she was now all alone in this world, but she was not their responsibility. She cared, but at the same time, she didn't care enough, and whether that came from the way she was raised, the way she had to survive, or because of what has happened to her the last two years, it is hard to tell. She did not give the child another look as she followed Caesar from the room, him stopping to look at the others and give them orders.

"Look around. Take what you can." Rocket had moved out of the way to let his king and queen through, and Blue Eyes had left the room in front of his father to explore the building. Rocket and Luca followed him, but Maurice stayed in the room with the girl, which Kenai thought was a good idea because he could make sure she doesn't interfere with their scavenging. Kenai was leaning against a window while next to Caesar, and they were watching Rocket, Luca, and Blue Eyes rummage around the room looking for anything useful. They didn't find much other than a pair of binoculars and a few flashlights, and when Maurice came to the door and looked at Caesar and grunted at him, Caesar's attention was now on the orangutan. Maurice looked back into the room at where the girl was, then back at Caesar and Kenai.

 _Something wrong with her. I don't think she can speak._ Kenai scuffed at this.

"Some humans are born mutes, its how it is sometimes." Maurice looked back at the girl then at Caesar again.

"Come." This got the attention of Luca, Rocket, and Blue Eyes and they turned to follow Caesar and Kenai out of the building. Maurice gave one last look at the human, before following with his head hung low. As Caesar and his apes exited the house, they passed the man, most likely the father of the girl inside, the only person who gave a look to the human was Kenai, and they all went to mount their horses. Caesar and Kenai were the first ones up, and they both noticed the human girl had followed them outside and was now staring at the dead body of the man, her features seeming unfazed by his death. Maurice had seen Caesar and Kenai looking toward the building, and turned to see the girl before looking back at his leader.

 _She'll die out here alone._

"We cannot take her Maurice." Maurice looked back at the girl then at Caesar, again.

 _I understand… But I cannot leave her._ Caesar looked from Maurice to the human just as she lifted her eyes to look at him before he sighed and nodded once before trotting away, Kenai following with a small smirk on her face. Maurice waved the girl over and she walked up to him without caution in her step. They had not killed her, and she seemed very trusting very quickly, maybe it was that the apes did not speak very much either, but there is really no way of knowing. Maurice had mounted his horse and assisted the girl in getting on behind him before he trotted away after the others.

They followed the path along the cliffy shore and soon came to a sandy beach. They walked along in silence and in twos except for Luca and Rocket; Caesar and Maurice up front, Blue Eyes and Kenai behind them, and Rocket and Luca taking up the rear, one after the other. From where she was behind Maurice, Kenai could see the human child had her head turned toward Caesar and was staring at him and another smirk came across Kenai's face when Caesar turned his head to her and gave her an odd look. It was hard to tell what he was thinking as they had a staring contest, and it seems the child won as Caesar nudged his horse forward into a trot before he was a full horse length ahead and slowed down to a walk. Kenai looked over at Blue Eyes who chuckled and thrust his chin toward his father, indicating that Kenai should go talk to him. Kenai nodded and nudged her horse into a trot and moved around Maurice to come up next to Caesar. Kenai kept her hands in front of her so only Caesar could see what she was signing.

 _When it comes to Maurice you go soft, Caesar. It is pretty adorable, cause he is the only one you get like that with._ Caesar huffed and shook his head.

 _You also soften my heart, Kenai._ Kenai bushed at that, and the staring contest between Caesar and the young girl still had her perplexed, so with one hand, she told Caesar to follow her and she went ahead at a canter, Caesar behind her, and they stopped when they were a good distance ahead.

"What was that all about?" Caesar looked over at Kenai, then over his shoulder before sighing and looking ahead of him.

"It just feels awkward with her here. Especially because she keeps staring at me." Kenai huffed and also looked ahead.

"Is it awkward because she's human, or because you killed her father and she doesn't even seem to care?" Caesar looked at Kenai who was giving him a look from the corner of her eye, and he huffed before shrugging his shoulders in defeat.

"I don't know, maybe both." Kenai hummed in response then looked at Caesar fully, and studied him as they rode along. For a minute she just stared, observed Caesar before he turned his head to her.

"What?" Kenai shook her head and continued watching, almost uncaring that he had caught her staring at him. She was hesitant to ask him the question that was on her mind, and has been on her mind since the night he marked her.

"What am I to you?" Caesar was not expecting that question, and confusion came over his face.

"You are my queen. Do you not remember me giving you that mark?" Caesar nodded his head in Kenai's direction, indicating the mark on the left side of her neck that was almost a healed scar already and a blank look came over the woman's face.

"Of course I remember, smart ass. And I know I am your queen, but what I mean is, what does that mean for us, like our friendship, or relationship, or whatever it is?" Caesar still seemed a little confused, he thought she knew that this means they are mates now, but Kenai seemed unsure.

"When I claimed you as my own, that means we are mates. We share a friendship, yes, but we do have a relationship as well. This does not upset you, does it?" Kenai whipped her head toward Caesar and started shaking it very quickly as her cheeks started to turn red.

"No, no. no, not at all! Just, wanted clarification I guess. You do know what that means in human terms right?" Caesar hummed and thought about it a little.

"I have an idea, I have seen human mates together before, and I believe I heard them call each other boyfriend and lady friend?" Kenai giggled a little at the last one and the smile remained on her face, as did the blush on her cheeks.

"Girlfriend, you were close. It is boyfriend and girlfriend. I don't know what your customs are for becoming husband and wife, for humans, you start out going on a few dates, then if you like each other, you become boyfriend and girlfriend. After that, if you continue to like each other, then the male will ask the female to marry him, sometimes the female will ask, but that is very rare. After that, they have a wedding, and boom, they are husband and wife!" Kenai put her arms out as if presenting a gift or asking for a hug, then put them back in her lap, her fingers clutching the reins once more. Kenai really did not know what to think about their current conversation, she was very embarrassed, yet she didn't know why. She was in love with him, and now they were mates, he just confirmed it, and she felt like she should be very happy, and that feeling was right on the edge of her being, she could feel it was close, but she just could not grasp it. The reasoning was most likely the most recent events that have taken place were not allowing her to be fully happy. She still felt the butterflies in her stomach, and nervousness whenever she looked at him. Human mates and chimpanzee mates acted very differently. Over the last two years, Kenai had never seen Caesar and Cornelia kiss, they held each other often, touched foreheads, held hands, and cuddled while sleeping, and even chimpanzees in the wild do kiss every now and then, so Kenai could not stop thinking about the possibilities. Just being in his presence she felt the butterflies fluttering around her stomach, and it made her giggle to herself like a little school girl. She felt like she was in high school, and her crush was the popular football player who had just asked her out and she was all giddy and blushing like mad.

Caesar watched Kenai for a few minutes and saw many different emotions pass over her face. She would smile, then the smile would go away as if remembering something sad, then it would return again. The red color in her cheeks was still there, if not even more prominent than before, and Caesar had to admit it made her look young and rather cute. He was still having a battle in his head trying to get over the loss of his wife and daughter, but having Blue Eyes and Kenai there with him was helpful, he wasn't completely alone in his mind. He had Kenai there to drag him back to Earth once his mind started wandering, and he had his son there to reassure him that his entire family was not gone. Now that Kenai was his queen and his mate, he knew he would be able to mourn his wife and move on from her, but he could not do that until justice was had for their deaths. This thought brought Caesar back to reality and he moved his horse closer to Kenai's until their legs were practically rubbing against each other. The contact caught Kenai's attention and she looked up at Caesar, her cheeks still red, and smiled at him.

"It will take some getting used to for me. I will have to learn your ways when it comes to mates, which should be rather easy for me since I've never been in a relationship before anyway, so I don't have to re-learn anything. I do know that humans kiss their mates quite a lot, I just don't know if that is something you do." Kenai seemed to be rambling now, she wasn't looking at Caesar very much, more so at her surroundings as if she was talking to herself, and this made Caesar chuckle, which caught Kenai's attention and she stopped to look at him before blushing even more at the smile on his face.

"We umm, seem to be coming up on something… we should... Umm… check it out… or something…" Kenai started stammering, making the smile on Caesar's face turn into a smirk, he rather enjoyed making her fall over her words and get embarrassed, he's gotta do that more often, find out other ways to make her turn red. Caesar thought about how he liked seeing that and how cute it made her look and chuckled before looking ahead to see what Kenai was talking about. In the distance, he heard shouting, laughter, and a few guns firing off, and as they got closer, he saw a tunnel through the black rocks. They slowed to a stop to wait for the others, and when they saw Caesar and Kenai waiting, they sped up to a trot to reach them quicker. As soon as they did, Caesar and Kenai continued on, heading for the hole in the rocks. When they entered, Caesar put his hand up to halt everyone and observed across the sand to see the soldier's camp. Kenai growled as she came up next to her mate, which was weird for her to call him that but made her feel a sense of excitement knowing that he is her mate. They backed out of the tunnel and pulled their horses to the side so that any soldier that looked their way would not see them. After dismounting, Caesar, Luca, Rocket, and Blue Eyes moved up the rocks where they saw some green foliage they could hide in and crouched down before using the binoculars they had taken from the child's home to look out over the soldier's camp. Kenai, Maurice, and the human girl remained with the horses as the other checked things out. In their hiding spot, Caesar and Blue Eyes were up front, with Luca and Rocket behind them, Caesar was the one who had the binoculars and was currently looking through them to see soldiers walking around, throwing things at each other, and a large bonfire where many of them congregated. Caesar continued to watch, the other three being left out until Caesar drew in a quick and angry breath causing the others to look at him in mild alarm.

 _Did you find the Colonel?_ How Caesar understood Luca while still looking through the binoculars is a mystery, but he still growled out his response.

"No. Winter." Through the binoculars, Caesar could see the albino ape that had betrayed them, he was carrying a tub under his right arm, and a soldier had thrown something at him, it hit him in the chest then landed in the tub before Winter walked away with his head down. Caesar removed the binoculars from his face and growled before handing them off to his son and moving down from their hiding spot to land next to their horses.

"Did you see him? The Colonel?" Caesar shook his head before mounting his horse, his son and council members following suit.

"Winter is in there. We will continue up the beach and camp to the north inside the trees. Tonight, we pay a visit to Winter, and see if he knows anything." Kenai nodded, a glare making its way to her face as soon as she heard Winter's name, and followed Caesar around the black rocks into the trees to the east and they moved through them heading north until they passed the soldier's camp and found a spot about half a mile away and just 10 or 20 feet into the tree line where they could set up. It was hidden from the beach when you looked into the trees, but the sand and the ocean were easily visible from inside the trees. Caesar had wanted Maurice and Kenai to remain with the horses and the child, but Kenai was having none of that.

"No, I am coming with you!" Caesar huffed as he stood in front of his mate looking down at her. She stood at her full height, her shoulders pushed back and her chest out, this did nothing to help her height and did not make her look any more intimidating, but Caesar knew she could still be dangerous, not to him, but dangerous nonetheless.

"I want you out of harm's way, if we get caught, they will kill us, no questions asked." Kenai growled and crossed her arms.

"I am coming with you, if we get caught then so be it, at least I die by your side. But I want to see the look on that bastard's face when he realizes what he did!" Kenai was referring to Winter, but when she said she will die by Caesar's side, that is what caught him, and he sighed before giving her a smile and pulling her to him so they could touch foreheads.

"Stay close, do not leave my side, do as I say, I will keep you safe." Kenai huffed at her victory before she gave her own smile and a blush came to her cheeks which Caesar smiled at when he pulled away and chuckled at the way his mate said her next words.

"Winter better be ready, cause he done fucked up."

A/N: Okay, so after the deaths of Cornelia and Keefa, I have changed my writing to be from third person. At first, I was writing mostly from Kenai's perspective becuase the story was mostly about her and from her point of view, but now the story is about her, Caesar, and Blue Eyes so I am writing it from third person. There is not much Blue Eyes in this chapter, I am trying to get used to writing him in, it is kind of difficult because he was supposed to die with his mother, so he was not a part of the journey north, so I have to ask myself, what would Blue Eyes be doing at this point in the story? Blue Eyes is not much for war, I learned that from reading Greg Keyes' book that took place between Dawn and War, but that could easily change with the death of his mother and sister, so I am playing around with ideas for Blue Eyes and what not. Bare with me on this, I promise there will be more of him in the chapters to come! Anyway, I hope y'all liked this chapter and please review to tell me what you think! Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	14. Chapter 14

Sneaking into the soldiers camp was actually pretty easy, it had gotten dark out, so the apes and even Kenai were hidden amongst the shadows with their dark fur. The tent that Winter had entered was not visited by the humans near as much, which gave them an advantage of time, and in the tent, Winter took his tub to a counter and set it next to a sink, the same place he's been since he showed up here, scrubbing the human's dirty dishes. Winter sighed, a miserable look on his face until he looked up into the mirror in front of him to see something he never hoped he would again, for fear of his own life, and it quickly changed to panic. Winter gave out a startled grunt and whipped around as if he had seen a ghost in the mirror and was checking for it behind him, only, instead of a ghost, he got something much worse. Caesar stood 15 feet in front of him with Kenai on his right and Blue Eyes on his left, anger etched into their features like they had been a marble slab for an artist to sculpt.

"Where's the Colonel?" To Winter's right, Luca came around the corner, disappointment on his face overlapped by his own vexation that Winter had proven him wrong. Luca had told him he would be strong, like the other gorillas, they had to be the walls of the village before physical walls were built, and when the war started Winter had been afraid he would be a weakness in that wall, but Luca reassured him he was strong, but now, Winter proved Luca wrong and himself right. To Winter's left, Rocket came around the opposite corner, a wide eyed and pissed look on his face, each of them had their guns in their hands, and it seemed to make Winter nervous as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other continuously.

 _He's gone._ Caesar cocked his head to the side when he said his next word, like a puppy intrigued by something, or weary of a new object.

"Gone?" Winter looked from Caesar to Kenai, and when they locked gazes she growled and huffed at him making him look away and back at Caesar.

 _He left this morning… took many men with him. More soldiers are coming down from the North._ Caesar started moving forward, Kenai and Blue Eyes following, their movements slow, as if purposefully making Winter uncomfortable, and it was working, his signing slowed and he even paused briefly in nervousness.

 _The Colonel is going to meet them… at the border._

"What border? Why?" Winter took a second to answer that, waiting until Caesar came to a stop just two feet away from him.

 _I don't know. But the rest of us are going tomorrow. The donkeys think the soldiers from the North… are coming to help finish off the apes for good. That day, after the battle on the hill… The donkey we caught promised me the Colonel would spare my life… If I told them where you were hiding._ Kenai took in a sharp breath, a means of controlling herself from pummeling Winter into the ground right here and now.

 _Forgive me!_ Blue Eyes gave out a snort and it turned into a growl, and this seemed to make Winter even more nervous because he tried to take a step back as he put his hand out in supplication, but instead he was given no forgiveness as Caesar said his next words with a clenched jaw.

"My daughter… my wife… are dead." Realization came over Winter's face now, and he knew there was no getting out of this, no way to gain forgiveness, or reconcile for his actions. Hoots of panic and fear were coming from Winter now, as he was frightened for his life, but when the sound of soldiers outside of the tent caught his attention, Winter felt maybe they would save him and his eyes widened as he saw their shadows against the side of the tent. The others in the room noticed the soldiers as well, and before Winter had the chance to call for help Caesar brought the butt of his gun up to smash into the side of the albino's head. Winter spun to the side where Luca grabbed hold of him with one hand over his mouth to keep him quiet and the other behind his head to hold him there. Winter tried to struggle, and this brought them to the ground, Caesar and Rocket coming over to help keep the ape secure. Kenai and Blue Eyes had brought up their guns the instant they saw the shadows of the soldiers, and they kept them up, Blue Eyes pointing at the tent wall where the humans stood on the other side, and Kenai covering the entrance where they had come into the tent. Kenai kept looking from the entrance to the tussle on the ground, panic on her face that Winter would alert the soldiers to their presence, but Rocket and Luca both had strong holds on Winter's arms to keep him from thrashing, and Caesar had an arm around the ape's neck and a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Winter continued to thrash his body around to get away, but the others were too strong and overpowered him so he lay helpless and watched as the soldiers stood for a few minutes and then their shadows disappeared. Kenai let out a breath she did not realize she was holding and looked to the others on the ground, Rocket and Luca released their hold on Winter when they realized he wasn't moving and looked at Caesar, who was panting. The ape leader looked at each of his friends, his arms going slack from over Winter's mouth and around his neck, but when his head rolled to the side, Caesar looked down at him, mild confusion on his face when he did not move, then it hit him. He had just killed Winter without realizing it. When he had his hand over his mouth, he must have been covering his nose as well making it so the ape could not get any oxygen. Caesar looked around at his fellow apes with an unreadable look on his face when a sound from outside caught Kenai's attention, soldiers could enter this tent at any time.

"Caesar, we have to go." Caesar didn't seem to hear her, he was just staring blankly at Rocket now, but when Kenai rushed over and crouched next to him and put a hand on his shoulder, he looked at her.

"He's gone, grab his body, we will dump it in the woods, a dead body in here will alert them to our presence, but we have to go now before someone finds us!" Kenai's voice was a harsh whisper, trying to be quite while getting her point across, and it seemed to work because Caesar slowly nodded his head and stood before backing away from Winter's body which was being picked up by Rocket and Luca.

Getting out of the camp would have been more difficult than entering it, mainly because they were carrying a dead gorilla whose fur was a beacon even in the lowest amount of light, but they went out the back door where Rocket and Luca had come in, and the forest was only 20 feet away, maybe less. Once protected by the trees, Luca and Rocket dumped Winter's body on the ground and started walking away before stopping when they reailsed the others were not following. Caesar was standing over Winter's body, staring at him with Kenai and Blue Eyes on either side of him. Blue Eyes put a hand on his father's shoulder, and for the first time since they left the colony, he communicated.

 _It was an accident, father. You did not mean to kill him, he struggled too much, you had no choice. We would have been caught!_ Caesar sighed and shook his head.

"Ape not kill ape." Kenai scuffed and grabbed Caesar's upper arms to turn him towards her and away from the gorilla.

"Winter fucked up, Caesar. He is as much to blame for pulling the trigger as the Colonel is. He is dead, there is nothing any of us can do about it, so please, do not dwell on it or it will eat you alive!" Caesar ground his teeth together before giving Winter one more look, a glare this time, and that was it, he turned away from the ape and started heading north to their camp. Kenai sighed and hung her head a little before a hand landed on her shoulder and she looked up into the eyes of her… son-in-law…? Is that right? Can Kenai call him that? Is that even the proper term when it came to apes, Kenai had no idea, but for now she didn't care, he was still her friend, and the soft look in his eyes told her he will always be there for her. She smiled at him, still amazed by his ability to convey his emotions and what he was feeling through just a look, but sometimes, be able to confuse you with just a look, giving you the sense you had no idea what was on his mind, it was incredible how quickly he could switch between the two.

When they arrived back at their camp, Maurice already had a fire going and a smile formed on his face when he saw his friends returning in one piece, but that smile fell when he saw the look on Caesar's face.

 _What happened?_ Caesar looked at Maurice from the corner of his eye as he passed him, but did not give him an answer. Instead, Rocket was the one who stopped in front of Maurice to sign back to him.

 _The Colonel is not here. He left this morning to go to a border. Winter is dead, we had no choice, he was going to give away our position._ Maurice sighed and looked over at Caesar as he sat down next to the fire, Kenai and Blue Eyes sitting with him and the human child already warming up by the flames. Kenai wanted to say something to Caesar, anything, she knew he was still thinking about Winter. He may have walked away but that doesn't mean he stopped thinking about him. Kenai had been looking up at Caesar, watching him, so she didn't realize when Maurice, Rocket, and Luca sat down to their left until Maurice rumbled a little. They sat staring at the flames in silence, Maurice looking around at his fellow apes and human companions.

 _Now what do we do?_ Rocket was next to Maurice and was the one who answered him.

 _Wait till the soldiers go… Follow them to the Colonel._ On Caesar's right side, Kenai sat curled in a half ball on the ground with Blue Eyes to her right. He was currently fiddling with the bearskin hip wrap keeping his father's new mate warm. Blue Eyes did not know what to think about the whole Kenai being his father's mate and their new queen. He wasn't upset, far from it, Kenai has been a part of his family for a while now, only now it was official, even when his mother was still alive he did not know what to call Kenai. Friend, queen, mother, sister? She did not give him life, but she was his best friend, like Ash had been, but more than that, she had been protective of him, loved him, cared for and watched out for him, as a mother would. He knew the implications of her being the new queen, and his father's mate, but did that also mean she was his new mother? The same thought kept recurring in Blue Eyes' head as he brushed his fingers through the fur on Kenai's hip. She may not be an ape, and she may not have her own fur, but the cloak and wrap she wore gave the others something to groom, and though she could not feel it, Kenai rather enjoyed it. A humming sound came from Kenai's throat as she smiled and closed her eyes before leaning against Caesar's side.

Caesar did not notice when his mate curled up against him, his mind preoccupied with Winter, and while his apes signed amongst themselves, Caesar had a gourd made from wood that they used for water, their own version of a canteen, and he absentmindedly brought it to his lips to take a drink. After a few gulps, Caesar saw the human child looking at him from the corner of his eye, and with the gourd still to his lips, the ape turned his head slowly to look down at the girl. She continued to look at him, just staring, and Caesar turned his head back to the fire, pulling the gourd away awkwardly until something across the fire caught his eye. Through the flames, Caesar saw someone hunched over, their head down so he couldn't see their face, but he saw blood soaking the top of their head and their forehead. Caesar's breathing became irregular when he recognized who he was looking at, but it was impossible, he was dead. When the ape picked his head up, Caesar saw the blood trickled down his face and over a scar covering half of his flesh, a milky white eye staring back at him.

"Koba?" His voice a whisper, questioning, alarmed, maybe even a little frightened.

"Ape… not kill… ape." Koba's voice sounded the same as he remembered, and it seemed so real, the sound itself knocking Caesar into the waking world with a grunted breath. His eyes flew open, but his vision was blurry, trying to catch up with his body waking up so quickly, and it took a few blinks before Caesar realized it had been a dream and in the real world Maurice was rumbling over and over to try and wake him, and Kenai was also in his vision, quietly saying his name with a hand on his shoulder. Caesar's mate kept looking over her shoulder, a worried look on her face, almost as if they were about to miss the bus, and when his vision finally cleared Caesar saw Maurice signing to him and then pointing at the beach.

 _The soldiers are leaving!_ Rumbling up the beach headed north was multiple military vehicles and horses carrying soldiers and equipment. The soldiers had packed up and were headed north to join the Colonel, and now they had to do the same. Caesar quickly stood up, ignoring the questioning looks from Kenai and Blue Eyes, and he grabbed his gun from beside his resting place before following the others to their horses they had hidden farther into the trees. Following the soldiers up the beach was easy, they had no reason to look behind them, so they were able to keep the convoy in sight until the beach ended and they had to enter the forest.

They followed the soldiers for quite a while, losing track of time as they trekked through the woods and eventually the sun was replaced by clouds and the forest floor was covered in snow. They had gone farther north than any of them have ever been, and the weather was proof of that as even the apes with their natural fur could feel the chill biting at their skin. The storm that had blown in created difficulties in breathing and even visibility and they had to follow closer to the soldiers than comfortability would allow so they didn't lose them in the white-out conditions, and when the convoy stopped in the middle of the path, Caesar was able to see this quickly and was able to stop and point to the tail end of the caravan, red lights shining through the haze.

"They stopped." Caesar's voice was low, even with the sound of the storm he did not want to risk the soldiers hearing him. To his left was Rocket and Blue Eyes, to his right was Kenai, and behind him was Luca, Maurice, and the child. Confusion was clear on everyone's faces but quickly replaced with panic and fear as gunshots started ringing through the valley, echoing off the mountains and penetrating through the snow fall as if it was not even there. The horses all startled, some rearing, others backing up nervously, and the apes and two humans quickly dismounted to move to cover behind a large rock. Caesar and Blue Eyes took the front, Maurice and the girl huddled against the rock, covered by Luca, and Rocket who had one arm protectively around Kenai as she crouched and moved close to Caesar's back instinctively. Rocket followed and moved passed her to stand next to Caesar.

 _What are they shooting at?_ Caesar shook his head as Rocket scooted closer and scrunched up his face against the storm.

"I don't know." They continued to watch until the gunfire ceased and the soldiers started moving again. By the time they disappeared, the snow had stopped falling and there was a certain stillness in the air, as if death lurked around every rock as they cautiously moved toward the place the soldiers had stopped, hoping to find an answer to Rocket's question. As they came around a grove of trees into a clearing they saw bodies lying on the ground to their left, covered in a layer of freshly fallen snow. There were three bodies, lying next to each other, and at their heads each of them had what looked like grave marks made out of thin branches. They impaled the earth and formed an 'X', and leaning against the marks was a rifle with a helmet on the top of it. It was an above ground burial, the soldiers most likely did not have the time to dig actual graves for their soldiers, but the perplexing thing was, each body had a bullet wound in their chest, blood soaking the snow in a perfect circle making it look like they had been shot after being laid down. The group of apes approached the bodies with caution, Kenai keeping close to Caesar and looking around her, almost expecting an ambush, and the child staying by Maurice's side. Blue Eyes gave a small hoot to himself and came up behind his father as he crouched next to the body on the far left.

Caesar reached for the cover over the soldier's face, ignoring his mate's quiet whimper next to him as he pulled it up and away from the body. The face of a woman showed itself, blood covering the lower half of her face having flown from her nose, her eyes closed, and the muscles in her face unmoving to the shifting of cloth around her. Rocket's face had been hard, also expecting an ambush, and he moved to the opposite side of the body in the middle before crouching and removing the mask over this soldier's face as well. This one was a male, and he also had blood pouring from his nose covering his chin and matting up his red beard. For an instant, this man was believed to be dead as well, but when his eyes opened and he drew in a quick and deep breath as if it was his first and would be his last, the apes jumped back slightly, Kenai's hand instantly grabbing onto Caesar's upper arm as he stood to point his gun down at the human just as Rocket, Luca, and Blue Eyes did. The human gave out a pained yell as he gripped at his chest and gave a panicked and frightened look to the apes pointing guns at him. Maurice hooted and put an arm in front of the human child, protecting her from possible harm, and Kenai, still grasping onto Caesar's arm, moved from behind him to standing next to him when she saw the fear in the man's eyes. Everyone calmed down a little, panic turned to confusion, and panting turned to slow careful breaths. Rocket's face grew soft at seeing the soldier afraid, whether of them or of the wounds he had it did not matter, fear was strong, and fear of death was near inescapable.

Caesar walked forward, Kenai following him, and crouched next to the man's side, his movements slow so he would not startle the human anymore than he already was. The ape put a hand behind the human's head and tried to assist him into a sitting position, but stopped when the man gave out a pained yell. When he settled down, the soldier opened his eyes and looked up at Caesar who had a confused look on his face. He has never seen humans kill each other before, as they had a law, ape not kill ape, he believed humans had the same, and seeing that the soldiers mercilessly shoot their own men, he did not know what to think, and felt pity for the man below him.

"Why did they shoot you?" The human's eyes went wide when Caesar spoke, he must not have seen an ape speak, or believed the others when they said they could, and his eyes were striking blue, reminding Kenai of her mate's oldest son and this prompted her to look over at her friend to see that he was still standing on the other side of the female soldier behind her. When the injured soldier opened his mouth to respond, the only thing that came out was forced growls, grunts, and groans and this caught Kenai's attention so she looked back at the human. The look on his face seemed to be one of struggle, he was having a difficult time saying anything and Caesar turned his head behind him to Maurice and the human child that had joined their journey. Maurice turned his head to the girl who looked up at Luca then at Maurice like a child that had just gotten in trouble for something she didn't know she had done. When Maurice made the connection as Caesar had, he turned back to his leader with surprise on his face.

 _Like her! He cannot speak!_ Caesar gave a slow, barely visible nod.

 _He will die of those wounds._ A shadow of gloom came over Maurice's face and in his eyes as his king turned back to the human and gently set his head back on the ground. Kenai gripped Caesar's arm and gave a grunt when he gently pushed her back. Blue Eyes reached forward and wrapped a hand around Kenai's arm to pull her away from the scene and he encircled her in his arms as she reached out to Caesar. Seeing the look on the soldier's face had reminded her of the look her brother had given her when he died, blood running from his nose and his ears, covering his neck, soaking his clothes. They had not taken Colin to the hospital when he came down sick, because they knew it would kill him, and there was nothing the doctors could do for him anyway, so they made him comfortable in his own bed, and within five days, the Simian Flu had taken her brother away from her. Kenai felt an immense amount of emotional pain when she saw the look in the soldier's eye, fear of death knocking at his door, and she wanted comfort, needed comfort, and reaching for Caesar was the only thing her mind saw as the answer.

"Luca." Caesar jutted his chin toward the human child, and Luca turned to her before gently giving a scuff to Maurice. The orangutan nodded and turned away from the scene, taking the child with him so she would not witness what Caesar was about to do. Kenai gave a whimper when the soldier looked at her and gave her a smile and a slow nod, as if accepting, or even forgiving her for her past. When Blue Eyes' arms tightened around his human friend, she finally realized he was there and looked at him before burying her head in his chest, not wanting to see what was about to happen.

Caesar stood and pointed his gun down at the human, the man giving him a nod as if granting permission, or even asking him to pull the trigger. As soon as the shot rang out, Kenai flinched in Blue Eyes' arms, and after the echo dissipated she pulled back and turned her head to look at Caesar, trying to ignore the body of the man he just put out of his misery. When Caesar looked up at Kenai, he sighed and turned around to pass between Luca and Rocket.

"We must go, the soldiers have already gained too much distance." Blue Eyes opened his arms to release Kenai, and she immediately moved to Caesar's side as he put his arm out for her then around her shoulder as they walked back to their horses with Luca, Rocket, and Blue Eyes following them. When they retrieved their horses, they headed down the path the soldiers had continued on, but after trotting for a good few minutes they could not see the convoy or their tracks in the snow.

"Son of a bitch, we lost them." Kenai growled and looked down and to the side, but something caught her eye from her peripherals. When she looked up, Kenai saw an old convenience store and about 30 feet away from it a red phone tower that went high enough above the trees that they may be able to see where the soldiers went.

"Up there, we can get a look around the area, see if we see them." Kenai pointed to the metal tower, the others following her finger and they trotted over to the structure. All of the apes and Kenai dismounted, Maurice giving the girl a very basic sign that said 'stay', and they started ascending the tower and stopped when they reached the top and turned to look out over the mountains.

 _Where did the soldiers go?!_ Kenai watched Maurice for a second before looking back out over the snow covered woods.

"Winter said they were going to a border."

 _Yes, but which way is that?!_ They continued to search the area around them, trying to see any sign of movement or of human disruption in the snow or trees, but when Luca looked down at the ground and a threatening look came over his face, this caught the attention of both Caesar and Kenai. They did not have time to ask him what was wrong when he gave out a loud roar making everyone look down to the horses to see a hooded figure jump on Luca's horse and take off up the hill, a shotgun gripped in their hand. Kenai and Blue Eyes growled simultaneously as they quickly scaled down the phone tower and jumped down onto their horses. Luca had jumped onto Rocket's horse and the chimp had ran up onto a snow covered rock, he turned around and grabbed Luca's hand as he passed and pulled himself onto the back of his horse. Caesar's group gave chase to the thief, following him through the forest, between trees, and over the snow. Caesar was leading the pursuit, and when he came around a tree, the person they were running after flung the barrel of the gun behind him and pulled the trigger. Luckily the shot hit a tree branch above Caesar's head, but it was still close enough for Caesar to duck and for Kenai to growl and try to increase Goliath's speed.

The chase continued up the slopes, and soon they came upon a ski lift, following the burglar under the green metal structure and again they fired off a shot at their pursuants. The round ricocheted off the lift, again passing within inches if Caesar's head, but he continued his pursuit, fully intending on retrieving their horse and finding out who this person was. Kenai noticed something, the two shots this person has fired off have both come incredibly close to taking Caesar down, but both missed by just inches, was this guy purposefully missing? Where these warning shots to try to get them to stop chasing him?

Getting up the slope was starting to become difficult for the horses, especially Goliath with his large size, so they had to slow down, the mountain side kept getting more and more steep the higher they climbed but soon enough they reached the top and the second half of the ski lift came into view, covered in snow and not used in years. Having to slow their speeds coming up they lost sight of the person they were chasing, but when they came up next to the lift Caesar slowed his horse to a walk, the others doing the same behind him as Luca's horse was now walking toward them, riderless. In the direction the animal had come there was a large building, it looked almost like a lodge, but it was difficult to tell with how much snow was covering it and all of the holes in the roof. Off to the right of the path there was a metal sign, and carved in the metal working it said 'Kettle Ridge'. With having gone higher up in elevation, snow had started to fall again, and it was getting colder. Kenai was keeping warm, for the most part, with her cloak and hip wrap, but she knew the child was cold and would get even colder with night time falling upon them soon.

Rocket hopped down from the back of his horse and trotted up to Luca's horse, taking the reins and looking over at the lodge. The air was still and quiet, all sound muffled by the snow falling through the air, and there was no sign of the person they had been chasing. Caesar dismounted and the others followed leaving the horses to do their own thing as they slowly trudged up to the building. There was a broken window on the side where snow had piled high enough for them to enter the lodge with Caesar leading the way, Blue Eyes behind him, Kenai then Rocket, and Luca coming in last. Before Maurice entered, he put stopped and put his arm in front of the human child, stopping her from entering as he gave a low rumble of caution, this made the girl look at him and gasp before taking a step backward. Maurice did not want to enter the building, not until he knew there would not be a firefight, for both his safety and the safety of the child in his care.

The window they had entered through was on the second floor of the lodge, and when they came up to stairs and a railing they saw the stairs lead down into what would have been the lobby way back when. The room still had chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, now covered in sharp ice cicles, making it seem like they had just walked into an ice castle of some sort and there was an odd beauty to it. The four apes and one human started down the stairs, keeping their guns up and looking around the room waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. The air was still, the area was quiet, and the room seemed empty of life until they reached the bottom of the stairs and Caesar noticed footprints in the snow leading across the room into the fireplace to their right. Caesar turned his head to Rocket who gave him a nod and they walked up to the mouth of the fireplace stopping with Caesar in the middle, Rocket to his right, Luca to his left, Blue Eyes on Luca's other side, and Kenai on Rocket's other side. A few seconds went by as they stared into the blackness of the fireplace before Caesar cocked his shotgun and the others did the same with their own guns. They expected a reaction, bullets flying toward them, a figure coming from the shadows to attack them, something, so when the shotgun that had fired off two warning shots at Caesar during the chase was thrown onto the ground at their feet, rolling a few times before going still they followed the object with their own guns, confusion crossing their features. This confusion was deepened when the binoculars they had taken from the beachside building the day before was thrown after the gun, landing with a thud. They pointed their guns down the fireplace again, trying to ignore the questions running through their heads, especially since there was a person coming toward them now. The creature took slow and cautious steps, the upper half of their body bent to the ground, head down, and hands up in the air in surrender. When he came to a stop, he got down on his knees and his frightened panting could now be heard as he slowly lifted his head.

What was under the hood startled the group, whatever hard and intimidating looks they had on their faces fell instantly, and Kenai and Blue Eyes lowered their weapons as they looked into the face of an ape, frightened and panting.

"Bad… a-ape." Rocket and Luca looked at each other in surprise when the ape spoke, struggling over his words a little, but it was difficult to tell if it was from lack of speaking or from fear of the guns pointed at him.

"Bad… ape." The chimp spoke again, this time using his words a little better and his panting stopped and the fear left his eyes to be replaced with confusion when Rocket put his gun down and came up to him.

 _Who are you?_ The chimp looked from Rocket to Luca now, still confused.

 _What are you doing here?_ The new ape looked down to Luca's hands then up at him again and his eye ridges knitted together in more confusion.

 _I don't think he understands._ Rocket turned to Caesar now.

 _I don't recognize him. He's not one of us._ Caesar took this into consideration, and when he spoke, his voice was deep and strong.

"Are you alone here?" The ape in question started nodding his head quickly when a creaking sound caught everyone's attention and had them looking over to the stairs to see Maurice and the human girl standing at the bottom. The unknown chimp saw the girl and then looked up at Caesar and the others before moving his hands to the buttons on his jacket. This movement caught Rocket's eye and he pointed his gun at the chimp while hooting in warning. The ape looked up at them and paused his movements.

"Cold." His eyes moved from each ape as he slowly resumed removing his jacket before standing up, holding the coat in one hand, and pointing at the human girl.

"Cold." Caesar and the others that had the ape at gunpoint looked over at the human and saw that she was hugging herself and shivering. Kenai looked back at the ape and saw him looking at her before he went to hand her the jacket. She huffed at him before taking it and slinging her gun over her shoulder and walked over to Maurice and the girl. The older human waved the child over and when she walked around Maurice, Kenai held the jacket up for her to put her arms through and she did just that. When her arms were in the sleeves Kenai pulled the rest of it over her shoulders then had her turn around so she could bend down to button it up. When that was finished Kenai stood and turned to see that her friends still had their guns pointed at the ape so she walked forward and put a hand on the top of Caesar's gun, indicating he should lower it. He gave her a look before doing so and gave out a sigh before nodding to his second and third in command to lower their weapons. Blue Eyes had already strapped his gun to his back, having not cared for the device anyway, so his father's command had nothing to do with him, he was more curious about this new ape. He looked older than even his father was, but he was much smaller, around the same size as the human girl they had picked up, and he was close to being bald, which made him look funny. Kenai now stood in front of the ape and looked down at him, doing a little victory dance in her head at getting Caesar to listen to her without saying a word. She tried not to let her giddiness show as she gave the chimp a hard and serious look.

"Do you live here?" The ape nodded again before pointing to a hammock bed to his right, Kenai's left, and she looked over at it before looking at the fireplace behind the ape.

"Do you build fires here?" The ape nodded and scurried off toward his bed, searching for something. Kenai watched him go and put a hand up when she felt Rocket quickly move to her side and she hummed as she observed. When the chimp came back he had a box of matches in his hand and Kenai had to keep from bursting with excitement, it had been years since she had seen matches, and it was one of those moments where the little things in life can bring you a small amount of joy, even during times of war. The ape quickly built a fire, pulling wooden logs from around the right side of the fireplace, and using paper ripped out of old books as fire starter. Soon the room was filled with warmth and Kenai turned to wave Maurice and the child over. The girl moved quickly, not knowing or not caring about the cautious moves of the apes around her and sat next to the fire to warm herself up. Kenai gave her a smile as Maurice passed by her and put a hand on her shoulder and she hummed at him before turning to her mate.

 _Let's get warmed up, and find out this ape's story, I'm rather intrigued as to why he is up here alone._ Kenai looked over at the ape again as he stood next to his fire as if he was a boy scout standing next to his science experiment, pride written all over his face. Before sitting on the floor, Luca and Rocket used their feet to move the snow out of the way, and after it was clear they all sat down with the new ape in front of them and the growing fire behind him.

"Do you have a name?" The ape looked at Kenai and nodded his head while shrugging his shoulders, which looked odd because he was basically saying yes and I don't know at the same time.

"All my life, I been called Bad Ape." Kenai sighed and leaned against Caesar's side, the ape king putting an arm around his mate as he observed Bad Ape, so many questions running through his head. The way they had huddled together, Luca had taken a seat on the far right of the group amongst some rubble, Rocket was a little closer, sitting on Kenai's right side with Caesar on her left and Blue Eyes on the opposite side. Next to the prince was Maurice and on the end was the human girl. Kenai ignored the looks she was getting from Bad Ape as she curled herself around Caesar's side, still not used to being his mate but she was used to cuddling with him, so this was normal for her, but for the new ape, he seemed confused by the physical contact between ape and human.

"Okay, so back in the woods, what was all that about?" Kenai used her thumb to point behind her before curling her arm to her chest to get as far from the cold as she could.

"I see girl, I think you human. But you ape, like me!" Down on the end, the girl reached forward and picked something up off the ground to examine it, but Bad Ape hopped over to her and pulled the object from her hands.

"No, no, no, put down." Bad Ape hopped back over to his original spot in front of Caesar and stared at him.

"How long have you been here?"

"Long time, long, long time." The way this ape spoke was very different, he was very expressive, kind of all over the place, very odd, and when his eyes brightened like he just remembered something and his lips jutted out as he gave out one hoot and took off toward his bed, this just proved that he was a very odd ape. Bad Ape grabbed something off his hammock and ran back over to the group before crouching in front of Caesar and Kenai and handing a stuffed animal to the ape king while pointing to it and to himself.

"Home. O-old home." Caesar took it and held it in his left hand, and brought it up to his right that was still around Kenai's shoulder using his fingers to graze over the underbelly of the stuffed crocodile where the embroidered words said 'Sierra Zoo'.

"Are there more like you? More apes from zoo?"

"Dead. All dead. Long time. Human get sick. Ape get smart. Than human kill ape. But not me, I run!" The emotions on Bad Ape's face showed he was sad, but it would change so quickly to a blank or unreadable expression, to even having a smile on his face it nearly made the other's heads spin as they had a hard time keeping up with the ape's emotions.

"You learned to speak?"

"Listen, human." Bad Ape paused for a moment and his face got angry and serious and his voice got loud and clear.

"Bad ape!" His voice then got soft again as he pointed to himself.

"Bad Ape." He had mimicked the humans from his old home, from the zoo. Again, the human girl picked up the same object she had before to look at it, and Bad Ape hopped over to her and took it from her hands again.

"No. No touch." Maurice growled as Bad Ape hopped back over to Caesar looked at him.

"Th-that's mine." These words were spoken in Caesar's direction but seemed to be meant for the girl, just further proof that this chimp was a little off his rocker. Bad Ape looked down then back up at Caesar as a thought came into his head and he made a noise that sounded like he was saying the word 'you' but it turned into a huff of air. Bad Ape took off again, this time taking his crocodile with him and running around the fireplace and past his bed, slipping on the slick snow and falling to the ground with a crashing sound.

"I'm okay!" The way he had said it, and the way he had fallen was quite comical and it made Kenai giggle a little. This had Caesar looking down at her to see a smile on her face as she watched Bad Ape throwing things all over the place on the other side of the room, looking for something. They watched him for a bit and Maurice started signing to his leader in fascination.

 _Amazing… Always thought we were the only ones. Wonder if there are more in the world? More apes like us._ Before anyone could respond, Bad Ape came bounding back to the group, out of breath, but it seems he had found what he was looking for as he turned a pack upside down and its contents spilled onto the floor.

"Eat!" As Caesar and his fellow apes reached down for the food, Bad Ape looked up and at Blue Eyes, still panting.

"New friends. Special day." Caesar pulled his arm from around Kenai and picked up one of the packs to read the front of it, and when he saw it said 'California Border Quarantine Facility' on it, his heart jumped out of his chest and he looked back up at Bad Ape.

"Where did you get this?" Kenai, having been distracted by food, looked over at Caesar then at the pack and gasped when she realized what it said and also looked at Bad Ape, waiting for his answer. He had already opened one of the packs and was munching on a bread-like cookie when he responded.

"Bad place, I find long time ago, after zoo I look for food. I find human zoo. Zoo for sick. Big walls, sick human… climb. B-bad human… kill. And then… all-all get sick, all-all dead now a long time. Long time." Bad ape looked down to the ground, remembering bad memories, and Kenai felt her heart melt at seeing the pain this ape had gone through, he was alone and has been for who knows how long.

"Bad humans. Soldiers?" Bad Ape looked up at Caesar and nodded and his voice became a whisper.

"Soldiers." Rocket started hooting to his king to get his attention.

 _A deserted military camp! On the border!_ A gruff hoot from behind him had Rocket turning to look at Luca.

 _Maybe the Colonel and the troops are going there?_ Next to Caesar, Blue Eyes had been quiet for the duration of the conversation, but had snuck one of the packets of food and had opened it to start munching, not much caring for the current conversation until he realized the implications of what they were talking about and he perked up leaning forward a little and watching his father.

"Is it far? Can you take us?"

"Human zoo? No! No, no go back there, I, everyone dead, I come here, very safe here. Never go back." Bad Ape look to the ground again and shuffled his foot over the floor. Caesar's next words started off calm but turned into a growl.

"Please, you must take us!" When Caesar growled his words and leaned forward, Kenai moved with him and put on hand on his shoulder and the other on his arm.

"Caesar!" Bad Ape quickly stood up and growled out his own words, except he kept saying 'no' over and over. Rocket, thinking the chimp was being aggressive, started hooting and stood up to take a step forward and Caesar realized this would turn into a fight so he quickly put an arm in front of Rocket, not realizing Luca had stood up as well, and this stopped both of them from advancing.

"No, no, cannot take, cannot take, cannot take, no, no." Bad Ape hooted a couple times, calming down before his face seemed to grow in realization and he pointed to the windows behind his guests.

"Look, look, look, more snow, cannot go, must stay. You eat, you rest, stay here, with me." Bad Ape's voice was now showing how truly lonely he was here by himself, and again, Kenai felt that tug of sadness and pity pulling at her heart as she gripped Caesar's arm, Rocket sitting down next to her again. Bad Ape looked over at the human child, hopped over to her, and handed her the piece of scrap she had tried to play with.

"Here, you keep." The girl looked at it as it was handed to her and Bad Ape looked back over at Caesar.

"She keep." He gave him a smile, trying to ignore what had just happened, and Maurice rumbled as he inspected the object in the girl's hands, it was a metal plate off of a Chevy Nova II, and the girl seemed entranced by it as she ran her fingers over it. Kenai gave out a sigh and tugged on Caesar's arm until he looked over at her, a subtle glare on his face.

 _He is lonely. He has been here alone for years, who knows what he has been through, he just wants friends. Do not get upset with him because he does not want to risk his life, or ours, by taking us to the base. Please?_ Caesar sighed and put his hand over Kenai's that was still resting on his arm and looked back over at Bad Ape with a softer expression which the chimp smiled at. After that there were no more questions, the apes and humans ate in silence, and after they were finished they moved positions to sleep comfortably, hoping tomorrow would bring good fortunes for them.

A/N: There is chapter 14. I actually found this chapter hard to write, I had a good momentum going when I wrote chapter 13 and I paused between chapters to go to sleep which was a mistake because this chapter ended up being really hard to write cause my mind just did not want to cooperate and did not want the words to make sense. Hopefully y'all liked it, please review to let me know what you think! Thank you for reading and I will see you in the next chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

A/N: It has been a very very long time since I have written any content for this story, and for that, I apologize. Life has dealt me a great many hardships over the last year and a half and I have had difficulty coping. Fanfiction is one of my ways of handling it, and I have only recently begun posting online again. I have also been focusing on my scriptwriting, so my writing here may not seem as descriptive in details and more visual in composition because I am currently used to scripts. I had gotten a review from someone saying that they hate this fanfiction and think it is awful, but they also gave me reasons as to why. They were a little harsher than they probably should have been, but it made me think about my writing and this story. I do appreciate their view on the story and how it is a 'carbon copy' of the movies, how they think Caesar is 'cheating' on his wife - even though he isn't, it is in a chimp's nature to take more than one mate and I did not want to make Caesar seem too human, because he isn't - and how they think that is ludicrous, also how Kenai doesn't seem to have any flaws or character traits. Despite this, I will not be changing anything about the way I wanted to write this story and where I had intended it to go. I made it a 'carbon copy', as my reviewer stated because I didn't want to change much. I wanted it to be like the movies, just with an added character, and I have rolled with it ever since. I do apologize if anyone else thinks the same way, but I do not write my fanfictions to please others, I write them for myself, and I post them online just because. The only writing I do where I actually have an audience in mind is my scriptwriting for film and TV. I hope you all can forgive me for how long it has been since I have updated this story, but I am finally getting back into writing fanfiction again and I am delighted to do so!

Night had taken over the skies and the apes and two humans were sleeping, minus one who could not close his eyes, for every time he did he saw the first ape he had killed, Koba. Caesar sat on an old box on the right side of the fire, the flames keeping him warm, and sitting on the floor between his legs was Kenai, her head rolled to the side resting on Caesar's thigh as she slept. In front of him, Maurice and the human girl were curled around each other, providing warmth and comfort to the other. Directly to Caesar's left Luca slept on his back and Rocket laid on his side next to Maurice. Blue Eyes was curled in a ball on the floor on Caesar's right side, his back to the flames and far enough away that the heat was not uncomfortable. On the opposite side of the fireplace, Bad Ape was leaning against the mantle, wrapped in a blanket. As the others slept, Caesar let his mind take over, and as he stared down at the human child, pictures of Keefa popped in his head.

Bad Ape had been sleeping, but the excitement still running through his body kept waking him through the night, and one of those times he noticed Caesar staring at the girl, a sad and longing look on his face.

"Who is?" The quiet voice startled Caesar a little but he tried not to show it as he looked over at Bad Ape with stony features. Bad Ape looked at Maurice and the girl then back at Caesar.

"Child?" Caesar looked straight ahead, trying not to look at the girl he had been caught staring at.

"I don't know." Confusion circled through Bad Ape's head and showed on his face.

"But… she with you?" Caesar paused for a second, as what he was about to say sank into his heart and reminded him of why he saved Kenai two years ago.

"She has no one else." Kenai had been alone then too, scared, dying. This girl was alone, and it was Caesar's doing this time, but she did not seem afraid of being alone, and she was not in any immediate danger, but still, he let Maurice bring her along. Bad Ape looked over at the girl again, this time lingering for just a second longer before his gaze came back to Caesar.

"I see you look at her, just now. Look… sad. You have child?" Caesar looked down at Blue Eyes, then straight ahead again.

"Two. My third was killed by human."

"Soldier?" Caesar gave a slow, barely noticeable nod before one of his hands trailed its way to the top of Kenai's head and he ran his fingers through her hair almost smiling when she hummed in her sleep. An unbearable pain took over Bad Ape's heart and he had to fight himself to be able to speak.

"I… had… child." Caesar's eyes looked over at Bad Ape, understanding, pain, and he listened to what the ape had to say.

"You… think you find him… at human zoo? Soldier?" The pain on Bad Ape's face remained, as did the hard look on Caesar's as he stared at the small, odd ape.

"I don't know. Maybe." Bad Ape knew now why Caesar wanted to get to the bad place that he fought so hard to stay away from, and he knew what he must do, not only for Caesar but for himself as well.

"Then… maybe… I take you." Fear was in his voice, he was terrified of that place, but it needed to be done, something had to be done for his child and for Caesar's. The ape king's face remained hard, but his eyes said a silent thank you before Kenai stirred in her sleep, flinching as if she had been struck across the face and she whimpered. Caesar looked down at her and continued to run his fingers through her hair, comforting her as she slept, the look in his eyes changing from sad to admiration and care for the human. This caught Bad Ape's attention and piqued his curiosity.

"Who is Kenai?" Caesar kept his gaze on his queen, thinking about how or even if he should answer that question.

"She was cast away from the human population, alone, scared, dying. I saved her, now, she is my mate and my queen." Bad Ape was startled by this news, an ape and a human, together as mates? Does that even work? Does that make her the mother of his children? Is that even physically possible? Many things have changed over the years and this was one of those things that Bad Ape will just have to adjust to, for now, he turned over and faced away from the couple to try and go back to sleep. Caesar has not had a moment with Kenai where they were truly alone since the night he marked her, and he hoped they both made it through this so that could happen again, he had so many things to tell her, and she most likely still had many questions for him. That will have to be for a later date, for now, they slept, warmed by the fire and each other, until morning came with its harsh rays of sunlight.

The building they were in was much larger than it had originally looked, the way they came in was at the top, and the rest of the building had been carved into the mountain. If they had more time, Kenai and Maurice would have loved to explore it to see what they would find, they tried to sneak off while the others were eating breakfast to take a look around, but Luca had caught them and made them go back to the lobby. Caesar was not particularly happy with Kenai but could not stay mad at her for long when she pouted at him. After breakfast Rocket, Blue Eyes, and Luca had gone to bring the horses down and around the lodge, and of the five remaining, the child was the first one to leave the building. She exited and headed straight for the gate, looking around in wonder and amazement. Caesar and Kenai followed with Maurice and Bad Ape behind them, and Kenai couldn't help the smile that came over her face when she watched the girl. She hummed out a giggle before her face fell into sadness.

"What is wrong, my queen?" Had she not been distracted, Kenai would have said something about Caesar calling her 'my queen', especially because Maurice rumbled in laughter behind them, instead she continued to watch the girl.

"Thinking about Keefa, every time she saw something new or different, she had the same reaction. Remember when we took her down to the river for the first time and we thought she was gonna fall in because she kept reaching for the water?" A sad smile caught Kenai's lips for a second before she looked down, not hearing or listening for a response as she continued walking down the steps and onto the path away from the lodge.

When the girl exited through the gate she looked up at the large wooden pillars, then to the pink blossom tree to the right of the gate. A huge smile on her face as if it was the most fantastic thing she had ever seen, and she pulled herself up onto the ledge to get a closer look. As she stared up at the beautiful blossoms, Luca and the others had come down the path with the horses, and the gorilla left the equines with his fellow apes to walk over to the girl, giving her a gruff hoot to get her attention. The child turned, and her smile fell, thinking she was in trouble again for something she did not know or understand, but Luca just reached up into the tree, plucked a blossom from the branches and stuck it over the girl's ear, her smile returning almost instantly. Luca had always wanted a child, a daughter to be more specific, but his duties as head of the gorilla guard kept him from finding a mate and starting a family. When the girl smiled at Luca, he gave her a couple low hoots and smiled back, his way of saying she looked pretty and that he was not always a hard-ass.

Caesar and Kenai exited the gate next and a grin found its way to Kenai's lips despite the sadness that had enveloped her moments earlier, and Caesar just looked at his third in command with an amused and questioning look. Luca looked away from them and turned to go back over to the horses, ignoring the grin on Kenai's face as he passed her. Kenai looked up at Caesar with the same grin before they both looked at Maurice, but it was Bad Ape who caught their eyes as he came up next to Maurice. Bad Ape was definitely different, he wore clothing and hated the cold, so he had chosen to wear snow boots, a puffy vest with a fur-lined hood, a pair of dark brown pants, and a snow cap. Caesar and the others didn't find any humor in it, but Kenai found it hilarious and her grin only grew when Bad Ape gave them a thumbs up and she looked at Caesar, gave him a shrug and walked off to their horses. Caesar shook his head before following her, the others close on his heels, and they mounted before riding off down the mountain.

Bad Ape said the base was up north, Kenai's response being 'no shit', but they needed to know which way that was, as being in the mountains and under the cover of constant snowfall, you can get a little turned around very easily. They trudged through the snow for a few hours, weaving through the mountain valleys and between the trees. Soon, Caesar and Maurice were riding alongside each other again, and just like back on the beach and at the campsite, the child was staring at him. He was drinking from his water gourd again, and as the girl stared at him, he looked over at her, confusion on his face. In front of the girl, Maurice turned and signed a single word to her before thrusting his head toward Caesar and signing it again.

 _Thirsty. Thirsty._ The girl seemed to catch on and looked back at Caesar before signing the same word and Caesar hesitantly handed over his gourd for the child to drink from. Behind him, Kenai smiled and looked to her left where Blue Eyes was, and he too had a smile on his face, both of them turning into grins when they looked at each other and Kenai giggled. Caesar turned his head to his mate and his son and gave a questioning look to them, but Kenai only giggled again and shook her head. The ape king narrowed his eyes before deciding it wasn't worth it when Kenai and Blue Eyes ganged up on him, he never won, so he turned forward and continued moving his horse ahead.

After a couple more hours, they came upon a hill overlooking a deep valley that leads out to flat land, and at the bottom of the valley, they could see human-made structures and lights.

"This is bad place… human zoo." Kenai turned her head to Bad Ape who had mounted behind Rocket, and she looked back over at Caesar before dismounting when he gave them the signal. They moved over to the ledge and huddled close, Luca pulling the binoculars out to hand to his leader who looked through them. He couldn't see much, a couple humans moving around on the ledge just above the base, and some searchlights on metal walkways over the base, but other than that, no major details could be seen.

"Luca, come. Let's go closer." Caesar handed the binoculars back to Luca, pulled the gun from his shoulder, and turned to Rocket.

"Keep them safe." Kenai tried to go with him, but Caesar shook his head.

"Not this time. Stay here, with Rocket and the others." Kenai huffed but did not argue this time, but something in the pit of her stomach screamed at her as she watched them walk away, down the hill, closer to danger. From where they were they could see where Caesar and Luca took up watching the humans, and that was good cause they could watch their backs. The ledge Caesar and Luca chose was much closer and they could see many more details, even without the binoculars.

 _What are they doing?_ Luca was referring to the multiple humans on the ground below them, hammering large wooden pillars into the ground in the shape of 'X's. It looked like the grave markers for their fallen comrades, only larger, and sturdier.

"I don't know." The sound of horses neighing caught their attention and they looked off to the right and down the hill.

 _What's that? A patrol?_ Caesar brought the binoculars up to his eyes, the object seeming smaller in his large ape hands, and looked through the lenses to see two horses at the bottom of the hill.

"I don't see riders." Whatever Luca was going to say next was cut off by a person jumping into their view, and as Caesar had still been looking through the binoculars, they filled up the lens completely and he had very little time to react. Luca however, was able to grab Caesar with one hand and push him backward, sending him flying onto the snow-covered ground. The person that had surprised them was a soldier and he tried to charge Luca, only to be pulled into the gorilla's chest and they went rolling through the snow, Luca's impressive weight crushing the human.

At the top of the mountain, Rocket was watching over the ledge for anything that might go wrong, so when he saw two black dots trying to sneak up on Caesar and Luca he jumped off the ledge and started running through the trees, hoping he would get there in time to at least warn them. When he did reach the bottom, Luca was in a wrestling match with one soldier, and another had his gun pointed at Caesar, so without a moment's hesitation, Rocket jumped on top of the human, knocking him to the ground, his strength putting the man unconscious.

 _I saw them coming!_ Caesar and Rocket were both panting, and when they looked at Luca, they saw him pulling himself off the human, and he yanked the tip of a gun from his chest, a sharp bayonet on its end before he looked up at his fellow apes and rolled to the side with a quiet grunt. The two rushed to his side and taking one look at his wound, they picked him up to set him on his feet, one arm over each of their shoulders and started up the mountain.

Kenai, Blue Eyes, Maurice, Bad Ape, and the girl had moved back from the ledge and when Rocket reappeared assisting Caesar with an injured Luca, they came running over to their side as they laid Luca down in the snow.

"Luca! No, oh my god." Kenai kneeled next to the gorilla and put her hands over his wound to apply pressure.

"What happened?!" The raven-haired woman looked up at Caesar and growled when he ignored her, just stared down at his friend as he growled in pain. Caesar had his hand on the side of Luca's head and panic on his face.

 _At least this time… I was able to protect you._ Luca was referring to two years ago when Koba had shot him, and this whole mess was started, but that didn't seem to matter now as they watched the gorilla make amends with himself. Kenai didn't know what to do, and when Luca's hand landed on hers that was still over his wound, she grunted when he gave her a small smile.

 _You will make a fine queen, even without my protection, do not let the others judge you, or your bond with Caesar._ Kenai shook her head as she tried to apply more pressure to Luca's wounds, but he grabbed both of her hands and pulled them away from his chest.

"It is… okay… my queen." Surprise now took over everyone as Luca spoke, his voice not so deep, but smooth and almost jazzy in nature. The human child came to Kenai's side now and crouched next to her, tears coming down her face and pain in her eyes. She let out a sob as her fingers trailed over Luca's cheek and down his chin and he grunted at her before smiling, small and tired. Caesar was shocked by the girl's reaction, as was everyone else, and they were even more so when the girl pulled the blossom from her ear and placed it behind Luca's, her way of saying she will never forget him. Caesar looked from the girl down to his friend now to see him smile one last time, and that is how his last breath left his body, a pink blossom behind his ear, surrounded by friends, and a smile on his face. When Luca's chest stilled, Maurice ushered the girl back and she gave one more sob before letting the orangutan circle his arms around her. Kenai growled low and leaned forward to plant a kiss on Luca's forehead, just as she had done with Ash two years ago, and when she pulled back, Maurice's grunt behind her got her attention, but he was signing to Caesar.

 _Caesar… This must stop… It's not too late to join the other apes…_ Rocket, having a different opinion, grunted at his leader.

 _We cannot turn back! Luca gave his life!_ Maurice was the voice of reason for the apes, and he tried to use that voice now.

 _Please…!_ Caesar looked down at Luca, caressed the side of his head a little, and his voice became strong.

"They must pay." Kenai was about to agree with him when Maurice put a hand over Caesar's that had been resting on Luca's chest.

 _Now… you sound like Koba._ Kenai had to do a double take on that, yes Maurice could get away with a lot of stuff when it came to Caesar, but he had never said something like that, and to say Caesar was acting just like the ape that had started this war, it angered Caesar greatly and it showed on his face as his breathing became hard.

"It was a mistake bringing you all. This is my fight. I will finish this alone." The look on Maurice's face was that of surprise, he did not expect Caesar to react this way, neither did Kenai or Blue Eyes. Caesar was blinded now and acted as if Kenai and Blue Eyes were not there as he grabbed his gun from the ground next to him and he stood.

"Go, now. Join the others." Caesar turned and headed down the hill, Rocket hooting after him. Kenai growled and looked at Blue Eyes, the look on his face mirroring the thoughts in her head and they both stood to follow, ignoring Rocket and the others as they called after them. Half way down the mountain, Kenai and Blue Eyes caught up to Caesar, and when he noticed they were following him, he growled and turned around.

"No. Go back with the others. I will do this alone." His voice was harsh, angry, and cold, and it made Blue Eyes sink back a step, but Kenai squared her shoulders and stood tall and since they were on an incline with Caesar down the hill from them, she stood taller than him for once.

"You are not the only one who loved them, Caesar, you are not the only one affected by their deaths! Luca was my protector, Cornelia was my sister, and Keefa was my princess! I helped raise her! She was just as much my daughter as she was yours and Cornelia's!" This boost of confidence seemed to snap Blue Eyes out of his stupor as he too stood straight and glared down at his father, a look he has never given him before, a look of defiance.

"They… were my… family… too." Caesar growled at hearing his son speak and sighed before giving them a hard look, about to tell them no, again.

"You may be thinking and acting like Koba, but you have something he never did. You still have a family that loves you, and we will fight with you, whether you like it or not, so stop being stubborn, damn it!" Kenai's words were followed by a growl and it halted whatever words Caesar was about to speak. Silence filled the air, and mother nature went on around them, acting as if they weren't there. Caesar glared at Kenai and walked up to her, gaining height on her the closer he got, she continued to give him the same look, refusing to back down. He stood directly in front of her now, the incline making them near the same height, and he continued to glare until that hard look fell from his face and he sighed, Kenai and Blue Eyes doing the same. Caesar brought his gun up to his side and his expression turned serious now.

"Watch yourselves, we don't know what we are walking into. Stay with me." Kenai and Blue Eyes nodded before bringing their own guns up and in front of them before following Caesar down the rest of the way.

It was dark already when they reached the lower ledge right below where Caesar and Luca had been ambushed. Caesar cocked his gun panting from the climb down the mountain and the anger that deepened with every step closer to the Colonel. Kenai and Blue Eyes did the same, preparing for a fight, but when they got to the large 'X's the soldiers had put up, Caesar's breathing became erratic, and Kenai gasped at seeing the true function of these structures. On each 'X', a dead ape hung by their wrists, their feet tied to the side, in a display of warning and example. The first one they came upon was Oberon, Spear's right-hand ape, the next two were apes that Kenai did not recognize and the one closest to the ledge was passed up completely because of what they saw below them.

"Oh my god… no." Below them, large quarantine cages, all of Caesar's apes were huddled close to each other, and across from them, in a separate cage, all the children gathered at the fence, crying out for their parents. Soldiers patrolled over the cages, around the cages, searchlights investigated the shadows to find any stragglers or escapees. Sorrow came over Caesar's face now and he fell to his knees, almost looking like he was ready to give up until the sound of a gasping and pain filled wheeze caught their attention and they turned around to see the fourth ape that had been strung up.

"Spear!" Kenai was in shock, but not stupid, so she kept her voice down so as not to alert the soldiers below them as they ran over to the commander before Kenai used her knife from her satchel to cut him down. He fell into Caesar's arms and his back was rested against the wood behind him panting in fear and panic. Spear opened his eyes the whites of them now blood red, and either did not see Kenai or did not want to see her because he looked at Caesar and stared at him, gasping and wheezing.

"What… happened?"

 _They came out of nowhere… Attacked us… We thought they would kill us! But the Colonel stopped them. There was madness in his eyes! He said they would use us, before we died! And they brought us all here!_ Spear started couching a little, and Kenai put her hand on his back, her other on his shoulder.

"Use you?" Spear took a couple pained breaths and looked up at Caesar with a tired gaze.

 _They've been forcing us to work!_

"What… What kind of work?" Instead of an answer, Spear's eyes started to droop closed, and his breathing slowed, causing fear and pain to grip at Kenai's heart.

"Spear… no, stay with us!" The ape's body sagged and would have fallen to the side if Kenai hadn't been there, holding him up.

"Wait. My little son. Is he here?" Kenai had wrapped her arms around Spear's body, and a sob escaped her chest, but it was interrupted by a pained screech from behind them. Both ape and human spun around to see Blue Eyes sprawled face first in the snow, his gun discarded on the ground. A soldier was standing over his body, and Red, the gorilla traitor from the trench, was quickly advancing on Caesar and Kenai. The ape king moved between Red and Kenai with a growl, but they were caught unprepared and off-guard so Red was able to smash the butt of his rifle into Caesar's head. The shock from the cold, the pain in his heart, and the hit to the head were too much and Caesar was unconscious before he hit the ground.

"No!" Kenai screeched as she lunged at Red but is considerably smaller than the ape and nowhere near as strong, Red was able to over-power her easily, throwing her back into the snow. Another soldier ran up to her and slammed his foot down on her chest plate to keep her from moving and she cried out, her hands coming up to wrap her fingers around his ankle.

"So, this is the ape-hugger I've heard so much about? You have quite the reputation amongst the surviving human population." Kenai glared up at the soldier and snarled at him, her teeth bared and started thrashing her limbs to try and unbalance him. All he did was laugh at her and push down with the heel of his boot making Kenai gasp in pain and go still.

"Feisty, I like it." The soldier bent down and grabbed Kenai's wrist, forcing her to her feet once he removed his boot and twisted her arm behind her. In front of her, Red had swung Blue Eyes over his shoulder and was headed down the hill towards the base, dragging Caesar's limp body behind him as he walked. The soldier that held onto Kenai shoved her forward, the action putting a painful strain on her arm twisted behind her and she hissed but started walking, following Red and the second soldier down the hill to the base, to the Colonel.


End file.
